Night's Companion
by HolyDragonsEye
Summary: Naruto is being secretly tortured every night. Sasuke finds scars and bruises all over Naruto's body after he's found unconscious during a mission, and so he's left to find out what's been going on. UPDATED!
1. Night's Companion

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, I am sorry.**

It was a wonderful, bright and sunny day in the village of Konoha; nothing could possibly go wrong. And nothing really did. No hot tempers, no dangerous missions, and no suspicious people. Yes, it was a very nice day, and one particular blond young man was enjoying this day to the fullest. He was eating ramen.

With a bright smile on his face, he looked up, after finishing his 5th round of ramen, to the other young man sitting next to him. He had raven-colored hair, deep, dark, bottomless eyes and was wearing his Jonin outfit. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming jolt of pain and darkness in his heart.

"What's wrong, dobe? Ate too much you can't talk?" asked the raven-haired Sasuke.

"Don't call me that, and no, I didn't" said Naruto. "Let's go, grandma Tsunade must be waiting."

And so, they got up, paid, and started towards the Hokage to receive their mission.

On the way there, Naruto felt that sinking feeling once again. He was hoping he wouldn't have a mission in the night. He feared that the most. Not because was afraid of the dark, but because who came after him in the dark: his worse fear. If he had to go on an all-nighter, then the man who came in the dark would be furious and Naruto would have to face his fury.

But besides that, he felt guilty for not telling Sasuke. That one man who came to Naruto repeatedly every night was the one Sasuke had been after, all those years back. Naruto had finally convinced him to forget about the past and live for the future (but he still suspected Sasuke thought about him sometimes). But then he showed up at Naruto's house one night to torture him, and been coming every night since.

3 years back

It was normal day. Naruto was just coming home from his latest mission, and he was exhausted. All he wanted was a good night's sleep and the next day off (but he knew that part wasn't possible).

It was late evening, so there weren't many villagers out. He wanted to eat some ramen, and was about to go to Ichiraku's, but then he remembered what Sasuke had said. _If you keep eating ramen the way you are now, you'll go insane._ Or something like that. He wasn't sure, but went home just the same. He would trust anything Sasuke said, he loved him. But he knew his love couldn't be returned.

He got home, unlocked the door and stepped inside. Immediately, he could feel pain at his side, some hot liquid all over his hand, and fear down his spine. He closed his eyes against the pain for a bit, and then opened them. What he saw left him devastated. _It's him!_ He had dug his katana into Naruto's left side with one hand while the other was creeping towards his neck, as though to strangle him.

"How wonderful to see you again, Uzumaki" whispered the man to Naruto's ear. It made the hair on the back of Naruto's neck stand on end. He was now cornered to the wall, being strangled.

"Consider this a preview of the nights to come."

Naruto could barely breathe now, and he was scared. He couldn't move either. It seemed as though his body was made of lead.

The man let Naruto go, and took a step back, looking down at him in pity as the young man gasped for breath. _Yes, this will be most amusing; seeing him being torn apart, little by little._

"I'll be going now, but don't get too comfortable. I'll make the following nights living Hell for you. And if anyone finds out, I'll slaughter all the villagers…along will your beloved Sasuke."

Naruto jerked his head up in disbelief. How did this guy know how he felt for Sasuke? But more importantly, why was he doing this? What had he done to make him deserve this?

"Yes…I've had my spies on you tail for quite a while, I know your every secret." With that, he disappeared in a puff of dark smoke.

It took a few moments for Naruto to understand what had just happened, but he slowly got up, and made to go wash out the blood and bandage up his newly earned wound.

He couldn't sleep at all that night, for fear of getting killed. In the morning, he was a nervous wreck. He stayed home the next day saying he ate something wrong. And ever since, he always dreaded the night and what came along with it.

(Back to the present)

Naruto shuddered whenever he thought about it.

They arrived in the Hokage's meeting room. It was a brief meeting, about a few of the village's security problems, but for Naruto, it was still very boring. All he wanted was to find out what his mission was.

He didn't have to wait much longer. Tsunade called them up, one by one, and gave them their missions. _It's just a matter of time…_

"Naruto!" barked the Hokage.

Naruto gulped. It was like this every time. He stood up, and walked over to the table where she was sitting.

"Shikamaru, you too" she called again.

Shikamaru got up, and dragged his feet over muttering "What a drag…"

"You two have a B class escort mission. The reason I need both of you is because the person you're going to escort has too much for just one other person to carry."

"W-when do we go?" asked Naruto, dreading the answer.

"Tomorrow. At sunrise. When you return, you will report back to me."

"Okay" said Naruto, a bit relieved. He may not have an all-nighter, but he was still going to be tortured just the same.

They were dismissed and everyone either went home, or to an unexpected mission they would have to do.

Naruto went home. He had to. If he didn't, then he would be found and tortured anyway. The closer he got to his house, the heavier his body felt. And once again, the fear spread down this spine.

He looked up at the moon, which was making its way up to the sky. It was late evening and there weren't many stars out yet. He sighed and continued walking.

He could feel the evil emanating from his house when he reached it. He unlocked, and then opened the door, and stepped inside. Sure enough, the man was there, standing in the far corners of the room, in the shadows.

Itachi Uchiha

**Too short isn't it? The rest of the chapters get longer.**

**Hope you liked it. Review please.**


	2. Night's Terror

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, but I'd be happy with a Shikamaru.**

There he was. With the same raven-colored hair, the same glowing red eyes, and the same Akatsuki cloak. He always terrified Naruto whenever he saw him. He always felt exposed and vulnerable whenever he looked into those eyes. And even after the past few years of dark and depressing torture, it still chills down his spine. The older Uchiha always had a way of torturing, making Naruto's once-healed wounds reopen, spilling blood over the newly sustained marks of his vulnerability. Every time Naruto thought of Itachi, he would feel the dreaded sinking feeling in his stomach. He guessed it was an Uchiha secret to make their victims go insane by even the thought of them. Even now, though Naruto wasn't conscious of it, he had frozen under the glare of those red eyes.

A few minutes went by of just starting at one another, each finding his place in their relationship between the two; once, the superior master, the other, an inferior victim to torture.

Finally, Itachi took a step forward, into the light, as Naruto was too scared to even breathe. He glanced outside the window, noting the moon was near its peak; it was time to begin.

Naruto gasped. One second, he had full view of the Uchiha, now, he could see every detail of glowing red Uchiha eyes as he had been pushed onto the floor with a Katana threatening to slice his neck, and the blood red eyes leering into his, stripping him of his will to resist.

Suddenly, he felt the piercing pain of a long-forgotten wound reopen at his side, as Itachi dug his nails into Naruto's flesh, drawing blood. He wanted to cry out in pain, but couldn't find his voice. And even if he had, no voice would have been heard as Itachi had covered his mouth, preventing the villagers from hearing what goes on behind those walls.

As much as Naruto hated it, Itachi was enjoying it. To him, what could be more amusing? Seeing someone else in pain, feeling the wrath of his anger, was what he had "fun" doing the most; it never got boring.

Naruto was about to suffocate now. When Itachi had covered his mouth, his nose had also been blocked. He tried to shift his face so that at least his nose could be free, but he was under a firm grip. Panic started to rise up in him; was Itachi finally going to kill him? But…he didn't want to die…not yet.

Luckily, Itachi wasn't planning to finish him off so soon. He wanted the Kyuubi holder to break into pieces by himself, under the pressure of staying quiet to save his friends. He loosened his grip just enough to let Naruto breathe, but didn't let go completely. Instead, he took his Katana and dug deeply into Naruto's upper left arm, cutting the fabric of his shirt.

Naruto grunted in the pain and bit his lip so as not to yell out.

The Katana was now sliding down his chest to rip open his shirt, all the while making minor cuts. With his bare chest exposed, the Katana engraved the Uchiha symbol, drawing fresh blood.

And with one final, devastating, blow to the head, that would leave Naruto with headaches for days to come, Itachi stood up and vanished in a puff of dark smoke, causing Naruto to choke for clean air. Itachi always left with a whisp of poisonous gas, and every time, Naruto would start to suffocate and would black out. And that was what was happening now. His wounds hurt too much for him to be able to move. He tried to get up, but next thing he knew, the room was spinning, his head fell back, and he was unconscious.

It was early in the morning when Naruto finally woke. The power of the Kyuubi had given Naruto back most if his strength and healed most of the minor cuts, but he was still aching all over. Above all, his head hurt the most. He knew it would for the next few days, and he would have to try even harder to focus on Tsunade's long lectures. As Shikamaru would say: "What a drag…"

He slowly sat up, waited a few minutes for his head to stop playing bongos, and stood up on his knees. With the help of the window sill, he finally got up on his feet. He figured it was about five in morning, so he carefully made his way to the medicine cabinet. He grabbed the necessary bandages and ointments to help with his wounds. He was still bleeding from when Itachi had sliced his chest open with the Uchiha family crest.

He flopped down on the couch to apply first aid on his cuts. He didn't think he could stand any longer. Naruto winced as he applied some ointment; it stung pretty badly. But as he recounted what had occurred just a few hours ago, it didn't hurt as much. This was nothing compared to having your body being ripped apart, bit by bit.

What worried Naruto the most now was whether or not he would recover in time for the mission. He had nearly less than an hour left until sunrise. It was nearly fall now, so the sun rose a bit later then usual, but not late enough for Naruto to regain some strength.

As he finished cleaning himself of the blood, he stood up to see if he could now, but as soon as he got up, he collapsed on his knees, grasping his chest. It hurt. When Naruto had taken a breath as he stood up, the fresh wound Itachi had recently applied, had reopened under the bandages. When he recovered and sat back down on the couch, he really started to worry. Would he be able to go on the mission? But… he had to…or else…the villagers…his friends…

They had decided to meet in front of the Hokage's office to let her know before they set off on their mission. Shikamaru had gotten their first. Oddly, the laid back, lazy ninja was never late for anything thought he was always complaining.

The customer they would be assisting would meet them in front of the village gates with all his stuff. Though how he was going to get there was a mystery to Shikamaru. But, there was something else that was bugging him, too; where was Naruto? He was nearly 20 minutes late. _He better not have forgotten he had to come here. Damn, what a drag…_ He was about to leave, but then he sensed Naruto's familiar chakra coming towards him. _About time_, thought Shikamaru.

Just as expected, Naruto was beside him in a few minutes. Something about him felt different to Shikamaru, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"What too you so long?" asked Shikamaru as they made their way to the Hokage's office.

"Sorry, I slept in heh heh heh…" Naruto replied with a slight laugh, but winced as his hidden cuts started to hurt again.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about me"

They made their way to Tsunade's office told her they were leaving, and made their way to the front gates. Shikamaru kept on eyeing Naruto suspiciously, but kept his mouth shut.

Naruto tried his best to act normal and ignore the pain. It still hurt a lot, but with Kyuubi's help and his will to stay qiuet, he was able to shrug away most of Shikamaru's suspicion.

**Well, that's that. **

**Hope you liked it. Review please. **


	3. Night's Patience

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd make sure it was SasuNaru!**

It was a pretty straight forward mission: take the customer to his village, avoiding taps and other ninja, and come back home. The only trouble was that there were many twists and turns and forked pathways leading to the village. Only their customer knew the way, so they relied on him to lead the way.

"Hey, Shikamaru, I know we're following him right now," Naruto eyed their customer, "but what about on our way back? I don't think I can remember all the directions."

"That's why Hokage-sama gave me these red ribbons." He held out the ribbons, "She told me to tie them to a nearby tree every time we hit a change of direction." He yawned. "But I don't get why we have to go so early."

"That's obvious," said Naruto happily.

"What is?" said Shikamaru, confused. Apparently, he wasn't aware he had asked his question aloud.

"It's obvious why we have to go so early."

"How?"

"Don't you remember what day it is today?" asked Naruto, slightly shocked.

"No, I don't"

"Oh…"

"Well….?"

"Well, what?"

"Are you gonna tell me what today is, or not?" asked Shikamaru rather grumpily; morning was not the time to mess with him.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Naruto was clearly in his own world. "I was thinking about something else." He was wondering what Sasuke was doing no; sleeping, probably. "Well, anyway, it's Kakashi's birthday today, and Sakura's holding a party."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, don't you remember?" Naruto asked, yawning.

"I never knew…" said Shikamaru blankly.

"Well, now you know. Let's tie a ribbon to that tree over there," Naruto pointed to a nearby tree as they came to their first forked road. They had to go left, so they tied the ribbon to the branch of a tree to the left.

"Hey, Kazuma-san," asked Shikamaru to their customer, after talk to Naruto for another half hour. "When are we gonna get their?"

"Well, we should be their in another hour or so. I can hear the river, so after we cross that, not much longer."

"What a drag…" Shikamaru muttered to himself.

It really should have been Naruto saying that since he could barely keep going. It wasn't that the boxes he was carrying were heavy, he had had lots of training to be tired because of that, but when his heart pumped blood to his muscles, he could almost feel the blood pouring out of the slits on his chest, back and arms. Luckily, with the ointment and bandages, he didn't have to worry too much about Shikamaru finding anything suspicious. It was going to be all right….until nightfall that is.

Naruto sighed quietly to himself in his depression.

Though Naruto felt this now, on their way back, he would be a complete wreck. Unknown to him or Shikamaru, Itachi had been tailing them, taking off the ribbons tied to mark their way home, all the while thinking up how best to unleash his wrath on Naruto the following night.

He would take Naruto away that night, and slice him up mercilessly, leaving him there for the little insects and birds to feed on him until Kyuubi took his course in the healing. Being so far from the village, and too weak to even breathe, he wouldn't be found and won't be able to go back to Konoha either. It would take a while, but a little patient never hurt.

With that thought, he smirked as he jumped from tree to tree, gathering the ribbons.

(Back in Konoha)

Sasuke and Sakura had been unexpectedly called down by the Hokage to her office for a private talk with them. Surprisingly, they also found Kakashi there, too.

"You called us? How come? What's wrong?" asked Sakura. She was now a medical ninja and used her skills during fights to heal her comrades.

The fact that she and Sasuke had been called together only meant that they was something big Tsunade had to say. Otherwise, Sakura and Sasuke were only called out together during big battles. Plus, Kakashi was here, too. Only bad news could await them.

"There was a special matter I wanted to discuss with you three," said Tsunade briskly, "It's about Naruto."

"What happened? Is he hurt?" asked Sakura.

"Not exactly, but he's been behaving very oddly for the past few months. At first I thought it was because he was stressed out from missions. When I gave him a few days' break a while ago, I thought he would be better, but I guess I was wrong."

"What do you mean by "odd"? Wasn't he always the odd one?" asked Kakashi.

"He's been very tense and jumpy."

"Yeah, I've noticed, too," added Sasuke.

"Come to think of it, I noticed he's buying a lot of bandages. He comes every other week, and buys at least three rolls," said Sakura as she remembered he had come just a few days ago.

"Three?! He shouldn't need more than one every few months. His missions haven't been all too dangerous the past 4-5 months; I've made sure of it," Tsunade told them. She had been shocked to discover the news Sakura had just informed. "That's it, there's definitely something wrong. Either he's covering for someone else, or it's him with the injuries.

"Kakashi," said Tsunade, looking at him menacingly, "search the outskirts of town for anything suspicious. Sakura," it was now Sakura's turn under the glare, "ask all of Naruto's friends, basically your friends, and other ninja around the village if they've seen or heard any suspicious things. Oh, but before that, could you get me the list of sold bandages from the medical shop Naruto always goes to. I also want his apartment searched before he comes back. Sasuke, that's you job."

The three ninja nodded in response to the orders and headed off for their own, individual, job. Of all three of them, it was Sasuke who was most worried for Naruto. _What could have hurt him so bad?_

Ever since Naruto had brought Sasuke to Konoha from the wrath of Orochimaru, he had slowly started to have feelings for the blonde. He had been a bit surprised about it when he first realized, but he'd gotten used to it. He had wanted to let Naruto know how he felt, but never had the guts. Plus, he didn't know how Naruto could take it.

He had reached the blonde's place and opened it with the spare key Tsunade had given him. As he stepped inside, he could smell something odd. He couldn't tell what it was. It smelt like it had been there for a while, like it belonged there, but to Sasuke, it felt out of place, as thought he'd entered a graveyard filled with fresh bodies.

Ignoring the stench for the time being, he started to look around.

Everything seemed pretty normal for a place Naruto lived in. Dished were in the sink, unwashed, from breakfast, his bed was made, no dust on the furniture "though there wasn't mush furniture to begin with) and the bathroom was pretty clean, too. The only thing was that there was a pack of bandage rolls in the sink cabinet. There were two. That meant one was recently used as Sakura said Naruto had bought three.

Keeping that in mind, he finished searching the rest of the apartment and turned back towards the door. It as there he noticed something else. The floor boards near the door were outlined black, but the ones in the rest of the rooms were light beige.

He bent down, grabbing his Kunai knife and scraped along the edge of a board. He took some of the scraped out substance and smelt it. This was blood, dry blood, and pretty recent, too. Not more than twenty-four hours old.

His stomach gave a great lurch. That's what the stench was; dried up blood, which had been left to rot. _Who could have done this…why? _

He rushed out to tell the Hokage.

Naruto and Shikamaru had finally reached the little village. It was a quiet and peaceful place. There weren't many people out at the moment because it was still quite early, but occasionally, they passed by a few people who were opening up their shops. The two of them followed Kazuma towards the middle of town where his apartment lay.

**The end...for now.**

**Review please. I want to know what you think of it.**


	4. Night's Surprise

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. I wonder what would happen if I did.**

It was late in the evening. Sasuke was sitting outside Sakura's place, up a nearby tree, waiting for the blonde dobe to return. If, perhaps, he even saw a glimpse of Shikamaru, he'd know that Naruto had finally returned home.

Everyone else was inside, having some cake or maybe Sake. Sasuke would have gone, too, had Naruto been there. Sure, Naruto talked - a lot - but he always cared for everyone. He wasn't selfish at all. It amazed Sasuke that someone with such a childhood as Naruto's could be so selfless.

Now that Sasuke had found out about the suspicion of someone hurting the blonde, he felt so helpless that he couldn't do anything to protect him. Truth was, he had never hated Naruto, but he wasn't too much of a people person. And since he had realized his feelings for the dobe, he found it even more frustrating to express himself. He wanted to, but just didn't know how.

Sasuke sighed and continued to observe his surroundings. _Maybe if I wait at Naruto's place, I'll know for sure if he come or not...and he could be hurt, so maybe that's why he didn't come here straight away. _As he got up to tell Sakura that he was leaving, Kakashi came up behind him in puff of smoke. Sasuke turned around to face him, giving him a quizzical look.

"You shouldn't go. Hokage-sama will let us know as soon as possible whether or not to search for him. If you go, it'll be hard to reach you."

"...'Kay," Sasuke replied reluctantly and went inside anyway. He was starting to get hungry. And if he went out to search for Naruto with an empty stomach, then he would lose his strength faster.

Over the course of the next half hour, Sasuke tried to stay calm and act normal, though he getting more and more anxious as the minutes ticked by. He kept glancing at the door for some sign of blonde hair.

Sakura and Kakashi were getting worried, too; _why had they still not come yet?_

A few minutes went by, and unknown to anyone else, Kakashi sneaked outside to talk to another ninja whom Tsunade had sent. Kakashi went inside after he sent the ninja back with his reply and motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to sneak outside, too.

"Are they back?" asked Sakura hopefully.

"Unfortunately, no. Sasuke and I have been ordered to join the search party and Sakura; you are to join us once the party is over. I don't like leaving my own party, but we have to find him. If anyone asks, tell them we're gone home to ready for an early morning mission." Kakashi finished relaying the message and left towards the village gates with Sasuke behind him. They were to meet the rest of the search party there.

--

The moon was nearly up now and some stars were starting to be seen. Naruto was starting to get cold because he was sitting up in the tree, so far away from the fire. He jumped down, kneeled, and curled up next to the fire to warm himself up. Naruto yawned and got up after a few minutes to take a stretch.

Just then, a hand came from behind and covered his mouth, while he felt a burning hot Katana ready to slice his neck. His hands were held behind his back and he couldn't move. His eyes were wide open in shock, though he knew this was going to happen sooner later.

Paralyzed by Itachi's jutsu again, he hopelessly let himself be taken away from the campsite to where Itachi desired to go. It was humiliating that a grown up Jonin couldn't defend himself against one other man. But, then again, in this case, that one other man was Itachi, from the Akatsuki, after all. There was no escape.

It took another fifteen minutes until Itachi finally stopped and put Naruto down against the trunk of a tree. He felt horrible, but at least he was able to move a bit more.

Itachi walked a few steps away from Naruto, with his back to him. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, he came lashing down at poor Naruto with a black leather whip. It struck at Naruto with full force on his forearm which he had put up hastily in defense. The impact had torn apart the fabric of his shirt, and felt a red gash on his arm. It stung quite a bit, but wasn't as bad as it would have been without his shirt shielding the flesh first.

"Damn..." Naruto muttered under his breath. Though Itachi caught what he said.

"It's your own fault; you disobeyed me and went outside the village at night," hissed Itachi. He took a step towards Naruto and lashed his whip at Naruto so that it bound him tightly. Itachi pulled an Naruto could do nothing but stagger towards him.

"But...it was you who stopped me from going back...the ninjutsu...that was your trick...you...you took the ribbons..." Naruto dared to talk back in between his gasps for air. The whip that had bound him was suffocating hi. If he stood at a wrong angle for any more than a few seconds, then he would surely die of suffocation.

Just as he thought this, Itachi pulled on the whip every so carefully. This made the binds on Naruto tighter, depriving Naruto of air altogether. Itachi smirked as he watched Naruto gasp for air. Not wanting to kill him yet, though, he loosened the holds just before his victim went unconscious.

Trying not to fall over from the dizziness, Naruto closed his eyes, trying to blank out the stars popping up in front of him.

Itachi then knocked him to the ground, releasing the hip around him and getting out his Katana again. Unknown to Naruto, the Katana had been sizzling over a fire for a while before Itachi had abducted him. So, now that the steel sword had absorbed so much heat, not only would Naruto's flesh be sliced open, but burned as well.

On the ground, Naruto coughed and caught his breath. When he tried to stand up, he was kicked back on the ground onto his front as Itachi brought up Naruto's hands behind his back so he was unable to move freely. Itachi brought the Katana down on him mercilessly, burning and tearing apart the fair flesh before him. Naruto groaned as the pain shot through him. Then everything went pitch black. He couldn't see, hear, feel, or sense anything around him.

Itachi wasn't around, that was certainly clear. He walked forward, blindly trying to get familiar with his surroundings. He blinked and then found himself tied to a wooden board, standing vertically with virtually no support, his arms and legs bound by metal locks. He then heard footsteps coming from behind. Naruto gulped. He knew what this was; Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. By the end of this Itachi would have him begging at his feet for merci, he just knew it.

The footsteps came closer and stopped just behind him. Then came another set of footsteps, this time from his right. Then from the left, and directly in front of him, too. Pretty soon there were over a hundred Itachi's, each carrying their own Katana. Naruto closed his eyes, hoping against hope that this was all a really bad nightmare.

He felt the Itachi behind him and the next thing he knew, he felt piercing pain from his back to his chest and when he looked down at himself, he could see half of a Katana sticking out of his chest. He screamed on the top of his lungs in the pain it brought him. Everything turned black again and he knew he was dead.

It was dead silence.

Naruto opened his eyes. He could no longer feel any of the pain he felt just moments before. He looked down (he was still tied onto the board) and was surprised to see that there was no Katana or any blood gushing out of his chest. In fact, there was not wound at all. He looked back, amazed, and the slight grin was wiped off his face. There were still so many Itachi's surrounding him. And before another thought could strike his mind, he was slashed through the chest once again. He screamed again, but no one but Itachi heard; he was left alone in Itachi's world. The overwhelming pain sent him unconscious again.

Opening his eyes, once again, atop the wooden board, he looked up at all the Itachi's. His were wide in horror this time as the closest Itachi sliced his neck and arms, splashing blood the ground and over Naruto's clothes.

Over and over again this happened. How long it took, Naruto never knew. It felt like decades had past by and his mind was being driven mad by every shot of pain that went through him. He didn't' think he could handle it. Screaming and screaming left him in no less pain than before and after a while he had stopped screaming as his voice had fled. He could feel the mixed feelings of fear, dread, and pain in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to puke up everything that he felt, everything he didn't want to feel anymore. He just wanted it to end.

--

As if complying to his wish, the next time he opened his eyes, he was back in the forest. He could smell the grass underneath him and he could hear the rustle of the leaves in the wind. It was like heaven compared to where he was just moments before. He tried to sit up against the nearby tree. As he got to his knees, he felt a jerk in his stomach and he coughed violently, supporting himself by keeping the hand on the tree. He felt a warm liquid splash onto the hand covering his mouth. Curious, he looked down at his hand, and to his horror, he saw blood. Coughing more, fresh blood splashed onto his hand.

He bent down, on all fours, trying to end the coughing, a hand on his stomach. _Is it poison?_

Once coughing had ended, he tried to stand, only to fall down once again on the ground underneath him. Every inch of his body was frozen by the pain Itachi had caused. He lay there on the ground, breathing hard, trying to gather his energy.

After a few minutes, he heard a rustle of grass on his right. He could hear the thump of footsteps as the ground carried it's vibration. Naruto tried to turn his neck towards the source of the sound, but was unable to do so. The steps stopped just a few inches away from him. Naruto then felt someone roughly grab his hair and pulled him up. Naruto looked to face the stranger. He saw two red glowing eyes and the shine of a ninja head protector. Whom he thought a stranger was now his worse fear: Itachi.

--

Sasuke was now searching every nook and cranny he could find in all the trees he past by in the forest on the eastern side of the path to the village where Naruto and Shikamaru had went. He had been searching for a few hours, and had finally gotten a lead. Apparently, someone had seen a signal fire coming from that direction just a few hours ago. There was a change that that may be the blonde's.

Kakashi had gone to the village to see if Naruto and Shikamaru had reached there or not. He figured they could've gotten in trouble or maybe were helping the village. He was to meet Sasuke later on.

Luckily for Sasuke, the signal fire was still lit and all he had to do was reach there in time before anything happened to the two Jonin. It was probably around one o'clock in the morning, so if the fire went out, then it would be very hard to see anything. He sped up his pace as he thought this and strived to reach their as soon as possible. The other ninja's around Sasuke were also searching for the blonde dobe, though they didn't seem as worried as Sasuke was.

Sasuke yawned as he jumped from one branch to another. It was nearing four in the morning, and he had to admit he was getting tired. But he kept on going, keeping in mind that Naruto's safety was still undetermined.

--

Over and over again in the midst of the night air, Itachi tortured Naruto. This particular night being harsher than any before because of Itachi's increasing hunger for blood the past few weeks. At the moment, it didn't seem to matter to him if Naruto survived his wrath or not. He didn't care if he was found, he would just kill them, too; it was no trouble for him.

His voice failing him, Naruto could do nothing more than writhe and squirm under Itachi's power. He knew he wouldn't survive after this. It was too much to bear, he wanted it to end, to escape, but knew his feet wouldn't be strong enough to support him after the heavy blood loss and cuts. A little while later, he was unconscious again, though Itachi never stopped. It was an endless night.

--

It was getting a bit lighter outside, and some animals had woken up to avoid the strangers who had intruded their forest. Shikamaru woke up to the sound of birds' wings flapping as they fled to another resting spot. He looked around and noticed the fire was still burning. _Guess Naruto fell asleep, too._ But when he looked around for him, he was no where to be seen.

Confused, Shikamaru got up and looked around more carefully in the very dim light of the setting moon. He saw that Naruto's bag was still sitting as they had left it, but it's owner was no where in sight. Alerting his senses, Shikamaru gathered his belongings, put out the fire and hurriedly erased all signs of anyone having stayed there. He knew there was something wrong. He could feel it; Naruto wouldn't leave him undefended with the fire burning in the middle of the night, and if there was something the matter, he would surely have awoken him.

Keeping his muscles loose for quick reflexes, he paused a few steps away from the campsite and wondered which direction to head in. He looked up and noticed that the birds were all flying away from one single direction. Guessing that would be the place to go, he set off in that direction.

About twenty minutes later, he came upon a small clearing, probably around the size of their earlier campsite. He could feel a sense of evil coming from it: there was no life there since all the animals had fled. Even so, he walked forward quietly and peeked out from behind a tree, acutely listening and trying to see what was going on. He couldn't see or hear if anyone was there. He came out and walked into the clearing, making sure there really wasn't anyone there. He smelt blood...and a lot of it, too. From the moonlight, he could make out a lifeless shape lying on the ground near the tree opposite him, surrounded by a pool of blood.

Panicking, because he highly suspected that to be Naruto, he rushed over and flipped the body onto it's back. He could see the messy blonde hair and felt the head protector atop his head. It was Naruto. _Damn...what happened?_ Looking around, checking, again that no one was there he looked carefully back at the blonde. There were deep gashes all over his body. His clothes had been slightly torn apart from what seemed like a kunai or katana and Naruto was scarcely breathing. It seemed as if he had some trouble breathing in the first place. _Good, he's not dead. But...these wounds..._

_--_

When Sasuke looked up again at the direction of the signal fire, he immediately stopped. There no longer was a signal fire. _Damn...too late..._

He still knew, vaguely, where the smoke had been coming from, but it would have been much better if the fire was still going. He hesitated for an instance, but started off again anyway. It was a matter of Naruto and Shikamaru's safety; he had to keep going, no matter the conditions.

After a while, he told the other ninja's so spread out and cover more ground since they were getting closer and didn't know whether or not to expect an enemy or not. As he got closer, he past by a small clearing, but stopped immediately after he passed it. Something felt odd there. There was a cold feeling coming from that particular area, and even though it was already quit chilly in the night air, this was a different kind of coldness.

Cautiously stepping closer over the clearing, he looked around to see if anyone was there. He could make out two silhouettes in the dim light. As he got closer, the stench of blood met his senses and he tried not to turn away from it. A few seconds later, he recognized the feeling of Shikamaru's chakra. It felt so warmly familiar to him, he grinned. But then a thought crossed his mind; _who was the other person?_ There didn't seem to be any chakra flow from the other figure down on the ground below. Surely Sasuke would have recognized if it belonged to Naruto, but how could he have if there was no chakra flow at all?

His heart racing for Naruto's safety, he jumped down below regardless of the possible danger. He landed right beside the figure that was crouched down over another body. There was blood almost everywhere. Eyes wide in shock, he looked down at the two people more carefully, and realized that it really _was_ Shikamaru and Naruto!

His heart sank; Shikamaru was crouching over a wounded Naruto, who looked like he was unconscious. He had a pained sort of expression from what Sasuke could see and there were gashes all over his body and he was bleeding from several different areas. Shikamaru, on the other hand, looked just fine.

"Sasuke? That you?" asked Shikamaru, looking up.

"Yeah, it's me. What happened? Were you ambushed or something?" Sasuke asked as he knelt down beside Shikamaru, looking at Naruto.

Shikamaru explained that he had just gotten there and that he had been sleeping the whole time. Naruto hadn't been there when he had woken up.

"We've got to get to a medical ninja-and fast! He's been losing too much blood and there's some stuff you should know, too. I'll fill you in on the way back," said Sasuke as he helped Shikamaru lift Naruto onto his back. The two stood up, careful not to hurt Naruto any more than he already was.

Sasuke called forth all the other ninja in the area and told them to start heading back since they had found both Shikamaru and Naruto. He sent out three of them to go and inform Kakashi and his team of ninja as well. Leading the way with Shikamaru and Naruto behind him, Sasuke began to wonder who in the world could have done that to him; Naruto was a full grown ninja, and a very skilled one at that.

"So, what was it you felt I should know?" called Shikamaru from behind.

"Oh yeah," Sasuke slowed down so that he and Shikamaru were running beside each other. "Hokage-sama, Kakashi, Sakura and I came to a conclusion yesterday while you were gone that someone's been hurting Naruto secretly. And, of course, the dobe wouldn't say anything cause he was probably blackmailed. You must've noticed something odd about his behavior the past few months...?" Sasuke explained. He felt that Shikamaru had a right to know everything because, after all, he was the one who was with Naruto the whole time.

When they finally arrived, Tsunade and Sakura were waiting at the front gates, looking frantic.

"What happened? Is he all right?" Tsunade and Sakura bombarded them with questions.

Catching their breath, the two explained that they didn't what really happened but Naruto was found in the same condition as he was that very moment. A few minutes later, Kakashi and his team of ninjas arrived. Again, Sasuke and Shikamaru explained what had happened. It was the middle of the night and everyone was getting tired, as well as grumpy, from their lack of sleep.

"We should take him to the hospital and bandage him up before he loses any more blood," advised Tsunade.

"Here," Shikamaru gently laid Naruto onto the stretcher which two medical ninjas had brought. The two medical nin's marched away with Sakura to help them.

"I understand it's getting late, but Sasuke, Shikamaru and Kakashi, follow me to my office; we need to discuss what just happened," commanded Tsunade as she led the other three ninja to her office.

Shikamaru yawned. _What a drag..._

Once they had all sat down around the hastily arranged table, Tsunade asked each of them separately what had happened. They each gave their answer truthfully, for they had nothing to hide.

"Hmph! So, basically, after you two escaped from the ninjutstu trap, you lit the signal fire. Naruto volunteered to stay up first?" Shikamaru nodded. "Odd... Then, when you woke up, he wasn't there, but all his stuff was...and he was like that when you found him..."

"I think he must've been like that at least half an hour before I arrived there, because there was relatively fresh blood on the ground." said Shikamaru. Despite his fatigue, he felt drawn to the situation and wanted to help as much as possible.

Sasuke had been sitting there the whole time, lost in thought. _Will the dobe be okay?_

"It seems like we were right about our earlier conclusion," stated Kakashi.

"Yes, you're right. But who could have done that to him? And why, what's their reason? Naruto wouldn't hurt anyone in a way that would drive them to this behavior." said Tsunade. She sighed and looked at the time. It was nearing seven o'clock in the morning. _Time sure passed by pretty fast_, she thought to herself, suppressing a yawn.

There was a knock on the door, breaking the start of an uncomfortable silence.

"Come on," said Tsunade.

The door opened, and Sakura walked in. She looked tired and a bit pale, too.

"Well, we just did a quick check up for now and looked at all the vital areas incase there was any serious damage..."Sakura trailed off."He did lose a lot of blood, though..." she was acting like she was trying to avoid saying something. To her dismay, her audience was very stubborn.

"Will he be all right?" asked Sasuke, speaking for the first time since it had been his turn to explain the events of the night.

"There's something that we found that we find kind of strange," Sakura explained, though it was a pain to be bearer of bad news. "The marks we found on his body...most of them were from tonight, but some of the other ones seemed to look like they had been there for a few months, at least. And those are only the ones that weren't reopened."

Everyone looked at her, confused, asking her to continue.

"The ones that were caused by the events of last night (or tonight) are actually reopened wounds from before...well majority of them, anyway." said Sakura, then added as an afterthought; "I guess that's what he had been using all those bandages for..." she looked down with a depressed expression at her feet.

Everyone else in the room sat there for a minute, stunned by what they had heard. _Had Naruto really been keeping that from them this whole time?_

"So, will he be all right or not?" asked Sasuke; he had been waiting for a direct answer.

"Oh! Well, we're pretty sure he'll be all right physically, but it take a while for him to calm down mentally." replied Sakura with a downcast expression. Looking up again she added, "But, in the long run, he should be fine. It'll just take a while for all the injuries to heal."

"Well, that's good to know," sighed Tsunade, relieved that he would still be the same Naruto.

"When can we go see him?" asked Kakashi. He had been eyeing Sasuke and realized Sasuke had wanted to ask the same thing. So before Sasuke changed his mind, Kakashi asked for him. And, just as expected, he looked up when the question was asked.

"Well, as soon he regains consciousness and we make sure he's perfectly fine, you're all welcome to go see him in the hospital. Just wait another few days." replied Sakura.

"Right, and when he does regain consciousness, we can ask him who in the world did that to him." said Tsunade, more to herself than those around her.

But, deep in their minds, they all knew Naruto wouldn't tell them. If he hadn't told them before, he probably wouldn't now. Besides, after what he had been through just now, he's probably be too scared to say anything.

Shikamaru sighed and got up to leave, saying that he wanted the day off to sleep at home. Sakura left after him, she, too, going home. Tsunade left a while afterwards since she had some meetings later on in the day and wanted to catch some shut-eye. As Sasuke got up leave, not long after the Hokage, Kakashi stopped him.

"You know; if you're concerned, just say so. We don't bite," with that, he left.

Frustrated by his own cowardice, Sasuke left for his house, too. He'd go to the hospital later on in the day, anyway. Knowing Naruto, he'd probably be up by then, too.

As he remembered Naruto's expression when he found him, he was filled such overwhelming sadness. His expression softened and he realized he wanted nothing more than to hold him in arms and protect him from whatever or whoever was after him. He wanted to feel the sweet softness of the blonde's lips and run his hand through his hair. He wanted to smile with him and laugh with him and stay that way forever.

He smirked. As if. His personality and ego would always hold him back. The villagers always did say that it'd be a miracle if the Uchiha ever laughed genuinely. He sighed and returned home, to sleep for most of the morning.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**It's not as bad as I think it was, right? Right?!**

**Review Please.**


	5. Night's Sorrow

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Nope. Not at all. What a tragedy.**

As soon as Sasuke had reached home, he'd flopped down on the bed and just laid there for a few minutes, lost in thought over the events of the past night. He recounted, over and over again, how Naruto had looked so pained, and miserable as he had lain on the ground, unconscious. The blood had been spilt over the ground, turning the grass and the soil into a murky red. Naruto had laid there, his body nearly half-open, reaching closer to death. If he hadn't found Shikamaru in time, who knows what would have happened to him. With that last, uncomfortable thought in mind, Sasuke dozed off to sleep.

After what felt like only half and hour, he awoke again to the sound of a bird tapping at his window. He sat up, and ran a hand through his raven-black hair. He sighed and looked down at his clock on the bedside table. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, surely it wasn't so late. He pinched himself on the arm, and felt the stinging sensation. _Okay, not still sleeping_. It really was seven in the evening. _Damn, no wonder, it's not as sunny anymore. _He had thought he had only slept for half an hour, but really, it'd been for nearly six hours, and he had promised himself he'd go see Naruto.

He jumped out of bed, took a quick stretch, changed into something more casual (since he hadn't changed out of his ninja gear after he'd come home) and slipped out the door. On the way to the hospital, he stopped by the closest ramen shop. He didn't get a chance to eat anything since Kakashi's party the night before, and he figured if Naruto was awake, he'd like some ramen, too. After paying for the ramen, the Uchiha sped up his pace towards the hospital.

Once he got there, he asked the medical nin where Naruto's room was and if he would be able to see him. To his dismay, the dobe was still unconscious, and wasn't allowed any visitors at the time.

"He's going to be fine, though right? He'll recover?" asked Sasuke. He felt very bothered to hear the blonde hadn't been up by now. He had assumed that with the Kyuubi's power, Naruto would have at least been awake.

"Of course, but in order for that to happen sooner, he'll have to rest." replied the nin. She looked at Sasuke with an odd look on her face, then left to attend to some other matter.

_Damn..._

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" It was a familiar voice and Sasuke turned around to face Sakura, walking towards him from the opposite hallway.

"Oh...uh...I came to see how the dobe was doing. I heard he's still not awake, yet..." he tried to act as casual as possible, though it was hard trying to block out his concern for the dobe.

"Yes...he's still unconscious. He hasn't even moved." said Sakura, looking down at her feet. Then she jerked her head up and smiled. "But don't worry; with Kyuubi in him, he'll be up in no time!"

--

After he met Sakura at the hospital, he tried once again to see if he could meet Naruto, but was denied once again.

Disappointed, he returned home and ate his ramen. It tasted good, but would have been better if the dobe had been beside him. Sighing, he went out to the training ground and worked off all his worry and anxiety with some good exercise.

He came home again, late in the evening, panting and sweating from his training. Luckily for him, the Hokage had given him the following week to just rest and lie back; no serious missions or anything important. He would have a lot of time the next few days to visit Naruto and help him get better. He changed and got into bed. He lay there for a while, thinking. He had to find out who did that to Naruto. Had there been a reason? Had Naruto done anything? _Of course not. Naruto would never do anything that would result to this._ But, then, that meant whoever was doing this was doing it just to hurt him...

Anger welled up inside Sasuke and he felt like hurting something. He grabbed his pillow and threw at the wall. _Who would do that?_

With that last thought, he drifted off to sleep.

--

In the morning, Sasuke woke up a bit earlier than he would have on a "day off". He took a long, hot shower, trying to get rid of his earlier anger. He got dressed and ate a quick breakfast. He knew he would be contacted if Naruto woke up, but it was hard to stay still and just wait. So he thought to get a "get well" something for the dobe.

Of course, he didn't really know what to get. He just ended up getting ramen again. As he walked to the hospital, he was confronted with another ninja. It was Shikamaru.

"Hey, Sasuke. The Hokage told me to find you...Naruto's finally awake." he said with a lazy sigh. "I have to go on a quick errand, so I guess I'll see you later." With that he left, leaving Sasuke standing blankly on the spot.

Sasuke's chest felt like a brick of weight had been taken away. He hadn't known he'd been so worried. He quickened his pace and rushed off towards his destination.

When he got there, he asked to see Naruto. The medical nin was a little hesitant in letting him see the blonde; the patient needed rest, but let Sasuke go anyway.

Sasuke walked into the room quietly, being warned that Naruto needed peaceful rest. He found the blonde lying on the bed with heavy wrappings around his injuries. He had his eyes closed and probably hadn't heard Sasuke come in.

The raven-haired Uchiha walked over to Naruto's left side, away from the window which was letting the sunlight splash in.

"Hey, dobe, want ramen?" he asked quietly, placing the ramen on the side table.

Naruto opened his eyes quickly, blinking in the sunlight and looked towards Sasuke, with a big grin on his face. "Sasuke...hi..."

"Is that all you can say?" Sasuke smirked. He looked around and found a chair. Bringing it towards Naruto, he sat down beside him.

"Thanks for the ramen, I'm starving. These medical nin's won't let have any ramen." Naruto pouted.

_How can he still have so much strength?_ Sasuke wondered to himself.

"Well, looks like you feeling better..."

"Yeah, loads better." The dobe chuckled. He tried sitting up, but winced at the pain at his sides and back. "Ugh...help, please?"

The Uchiha helped the blonde sit up properly, propping up pillows behind him. The dobe smiled and reached over for the ramen. Sasuke got that for him, too.

After Naruto was sitting comfortably, pigging away at his ramen, Sasuke thought it was time to get some answers.

"What exactly happened in the forest Naruto?" he asked, being completely straight forward about it. He looked Naruto right in the eye, looking for the truth.

The blonde slowed down his eating, and looked down, losing his dopey smile. "Well, you see...uh...I was staying up, on guard, right..."

He was trying to stall for time, he knew he would have to tell the truth, but knew the consequences. He wanted to protect them from any harm, even if that meant losing his own happiness.

"Yes, Naruto?" Sasuke urged. He desperately wanted an answer. He had to find out what exactly had happened, and why. After that, he'd track down the culprit and finish them off before any other damage was done.

"I was...uh...ambushed...and taken away to that other clearing..." Naruto went on, trying to come up with another story to cover up for the real one; one that made sense, but didn't lead to Itachi.

"Ambushed? By who?" asked Sasuke immediately, narrowing his eyes questioningly at Naruto.

"Um...I don't know...it was too dark to see there face and I was facing flat on the ground..."he shivered, closing his eyes, remembering the incident.

He was done with his ramen now, but felt his stomach clench at how he had just said the biggest lie in history. He felt horrible. How could he have? All this time, he had been desperately hoping that all this would come to an end, but now...?

He felt hopeless. He was hopeless. All he was doing was obeying Itachi's wishes and making the bad guy happy. The older Uchiha had lain out the trap, with bait, and Naruto had just fallen for it.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a blank look on his face. He could tell the blonde was having a hard time saying all this; it must have been painful remembering it. He should have known. Obviously Naruto wouldn't have been able to see the other ninja in the middle of the night in a dark forest.

He tried to think of something to say to break the uncomfortable silence that lay before them. Memories of the wait before the search for Naruto came back to him. Then he remembered how the Hokage and Kakashi had had a suspicion that someone was after Naruto for the past few months, at least; why else would the dobe have needed so many bandages?

"Naruto, what about before?" asked Sasuke quietly. "Was there anyone after you before any of this happened?"

"W-why would you ask that?" Naruto asked after a while, raising his head in surprise, looking intently at Sasuke.

"Sakura told me that you had been buying so many bandages, more than enough judging by the kinds of missions you've been on lately. And when I went to check your place if you had returned, yesterday, I found blood on the floor." said Sasuke bluntly. His gaze slowly went down to his feet.

Meanwhile, Naruto was in shock. He didn't know how to reply to that. If he told Sasuke what was happening, then, not only would Naruto have to face Itachi's fury, but the village would be in trouble. He thought of telling Sasuke the truth, then making him swear not to tell anyone else, but knew that if Itachi was involved, Sasuke wouldn't be able to sit still.

The blonde looked out the window in despair, thinking. Why couldn't he do anything right, damn it?

Sasuke, still staring down at his feet regretted opening his big mouth. He should have waited a while until Naruto was feeling better, instead of shoving all his questions at him right now. _Damn...I'm such an idiot..._

_I just want to sleep...and wake up to find that Itachi had never come to me. _Naruto was thinking in the back of his head. It was so frustrating. He wanted so desperately to escape from all this. After a few moments, of thinking to so hard, Naruto started to feel very light headed. _I think it's the light..._thought Naruto as he turned his head away from the window to look at the end of his bed. Everything was starting to become very blurry, he couldn't describe it.

He called out to Sasuke, but he didn't seem to hear; just kept looking down, ignoring him. Now everything was starting to spin around, and he couldn't tell where Sasuke was, or whether or not he himself was even in bed. He felt tears slide down his face, and he called out to Sasuke again, but only silence came back.

Sasuke was wondering if he should apologize or not_. Maybe I should come back later..._He thought he heard Naruto say something. He looked up and saw that the blonde was still looking out the window. Running a hand through his hair, he looked down again and was about to say something when he heard a loud _thump._ Snapping his head up again, he looked to find Naruto halfway down on the floor, in an awkwardly spread position with his feet on the bed, but torso off the bed.

Heart racing, he bent down and pulled Naruto up onto the bed into a sitting position. The blonde lay limp in the raven's arms, eyes closed, with a pained expression on his face just like when he was found in the forest. Checking his breathing, the raven concluded that he must have fainted. He sighed, his heart sinking, it was all his fault, he should have waited until the dobe was feeling better. The Uchiha pulled the blonde closer, holding him. He whispered his apology and laid Naruto down on the bed.

Leaving the blonde there he rushed out to call a medical nin.

--

A few days later, in Tsunade's office sat Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and the Hokage herself.

Tsunade sighed, glaring at them. "Have any of you found any leads to what's been happening?"

Sakura spoke first. "Well, when the other medical nin's were cleaning up his wounds the other day...we found..."

"What?"

"I'm not too sure, but it looked like a symbol of some sort was engraved onto Naruto's chest" said Sakura with a worried expression.

"Engraved? You mean, the lines of the cuts seem to form a symbol?" asked Kakashi.

"Yeah, but because of all the other cuts around it, it's hard to make it out." said Sakura, then added as an afterthought. "It's hard to believe he's even alive after all the blood he lost the other night."

"Well, I'll come by tomorrow and check it out myself, though I don't think he'll answer if I ask him what happened." sighed Tsunade.

"He won't; I asked him some questions today...well, it just slipped out, and I think he got over-pressured and that's why he passed out." said Sasuke, not meeting anyone's eyes. He felt guilty for happened earlier that day. When the medical nin's came in, they told him he had passed out and told him to leave while they tried to find out what had caused him to do this.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, then at Tsunade. They both understood what he was feeling and stayed quiet, gathering in the new information. Sakura was looking out the window at the rooftops of the villagers' homes.

After a few minutes of silence, Tsunade finally spoke up. "Sasuke, I want you to keep visiting Naruto and try to get him to talk. But don't rush it. It must be hard on him."

"Right. If that's all, then I guess I should go now. I want to get up early to train." said Sasuke, getting up.

"Yes, of course, I'll let you know if we find out anything new." replied Tsunade, looking at Sasuke sympathetically as he left.

"Then, I guess I'll go now, too." said Sakura, heading for the door, following Sasuke.

"Okay, good night." Kakashi said with a smile, and then vanished in puff of smoke and a _pop._

Hurrying along, Sakura followed Sasuke outside and called out. "Sasuke, wait!"

The Uchiha stopped walking and turned around, facing the girl. "What is it?"

He wore a slightly annoyed look on his face, but waited for a reply with patience anyway.

Sakura walked up to him, then looked down, hesitating. Then, finally she said, "When we were cleaning up his wound the night you brought him to the hospital, I noticed that most of the wounds were pretty old."

Sasuke knew what she was getting at but still remained quiet.

"Basically, what I'm saying is that we were right; someone's been hurting him far before we realized. And the worst thing is, is that almost all of those wounds and cuts reopened the other night and he lost quite a lot of blood, that may be why he passed out. So don't blame yourself for putting him under any pressure."

Sasuke looked sharply at her when she said her last line. The look she gave caused the blood to rush to his head in fury. _Is that pity in her eyes I see, or am I just having hallucinations...?_

Not wanting to argue over anything so late in the evening, he said his thanks to her for letting him know and continued walking, leaving her there, with pity in her eyes to the man whose back she faced.

In the hospital lay Naruto, asleep, unconsciously wondering what was to become of him.

--

The following morning Sasuke found himself once again at Naruto's bedside at the hospital. He watched, amused, as Naurto dug down the ramen the Uchiha had bought him.

When he was finished, he sighed and placed the empty carton on the side table. Surprisingly, he was able to move much more freely then the day before. _Amazing what the Kyuubi can do..._thought Sasuke in awe.

"Sasu-" began Naruto.

"Naru-" Sasuke accidentally cut in.

They spoke at the same time. The both seemed to want to say something urgent. "You go ahead, dobe" Sasuke told the blonde before he could answer.

"I...er...I wanted to apolo-"

"Don't. It was my fault." Sasuke cut in.

"But if I had-"

"Don't worry. Just relax, I shouldn't have pressured you so much, and right after you finally regained consciousness, too." said Sasuke bitterly.

Naruto looked quietly at the raven. He had never seen Sasuke like this...and in front of him, too. He sighed and looked at his feet.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." said Sasuke, looking at the blonde.

Naruto didn't have to give any reply; they both understood how the other felt.

"Sasuke, can I ask you something?" the blonde asked, his heart racing very fast.

The raven nodded and looked at the dobe, waiting for the question.

"Did you really hate me that much when we were genin?" asked Naruto. He felt his face getting red and quickly looked out the window, regretting ever asking anything.

Surprised by the question, Sasuke was blank for a second, but a light smile lit across his face and he answered, "Of course not, dobe. I'm just not a people person...you know that"

Naruto whipped his head back at the Uchiha and glared. He could tell he was telling the truth from the smile on his soft lips and the look in his deep, dark eyes. He felt so relieved. "So, it was never really hate you showed me all those times. You just didn't know what to say or do, is that right?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes, that's right." relieved that the dobe understood, and wasn't mad at him. He wanted to say more, express exactly how he felt about the blonde, but felt that that would get him upset, and he'd end up unconscious again.

Naruto wanted to ask more, but then changed his mind; he was afraid of the answers he'd get. It was to overwhelming to think of all that. He started to feel dizzy again.

"Sasuke..." the dobe said quietly, trying to keep his mind blank. The loss of blood was now interfering with his ability to concentrate.

"Naruto! What's wrong?" asked Sasuke desperately, standing up against the blonde's bedside.

"I...I feel...very dizzy" replied Naruto, shaking his head violently.

Sasuke, unsure of what to do, pulled Naruto into his arms and tried to calm him down, stroking his hair.

Immediately, Naruto froze. He was in the arms of the man he so desperately wanted to be with, whom he loved. Blood rushed to his head and felt his face turning red again. Oddly, he felt so comfortable and protected in the raven strong arms. He didn't want him to let go. Slowly, he crept his arms around the Uchiha and leaned his head on his chest. He felt so relaxed after such a long time; he felt so free.

"Naruto...do you feel better?" asked the raven, looking down with concern. He spoke softly and soothingly, he didn't even realize it. His face was also slightly red. He didn't feel like letting go.

"Yeah, thanks Sasuke..." Naruto quickly let Sasuke go, thinking it would be a bit much if he held on, and looked away, trying to hide his red face. "My head felt like it was spinning around in circles and I couldn't really tell what was going on."

Sasuke felt he got his answer as Naruto pushed him away, looking in the opposite direction. He felt the rejection seep through his body as though he was drowning. He looked down and figured he may as well go home. The blonde wouldn't want him there after what just happened; it was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Leaving...?" Naruto half whispered, calling out to Sasuke, hoping he'd stay for a while longer. The raven stopped, turning around and glared at the blonde.

"I thought you'd want to rest a bit..."he lied, keeping his face blank. He noticed how the Kyuubi holder slumped his shoulder's down and let out a disappointed sigh. "Unless, you want me to stay...?"

Naruto straightened his back again and looked hopefully at Sasuke. "Yeah, of course. It gets boring in here by myself for the whole day."

The raven smiled, finding it hard to resist the wide grin plastered across the dobe's face.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two spent their time remembering their past years of fun and freedom, enjoying each other's company.

--

In a forest outside Konoha, hiding in under the bush of the old trees, stood Itachi. After leaving the useless Kyuubi holder in the forest the few nights before, he had been gathering up his strength and coming up with another plan to get back at him. Unknown anyone but the older Uchiha, the blonde had somehow tapped into Kyuubi's hidden strength and had injured him just moments before he escaped.

The day before, he had disguised himself and went to village. He had made sure that most of the Jonin were out on missions. He wanted to check on the unconscious blonde, making sure that he wouldn't reveal any information to the others.

To his lucky fortune, and skills, he noticed the blonde was too scared to say anything and had in fact passed out. He felt pride in the fear he had implanted in the dobe's mind.

He smirked and closed his eyes. He wanted to end this. He had no use for the Kyuubi holder any more. It was time to carry out the final step.

**Sorry for the torture I've made Itachi inflict on Naruto. But don't blame me yet! Wait until the end. It WILL be a happy ending...at least, that's how I hope it will be. Let's see what Itachi will do next.**

**Review Please.**


	6. Night's Shield

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. I am after Shikamaru though. If anyone owns him, I'll take him from you and relieve you of the lazy ninja.**

Over the course of the next few days, everything seemed to be going well for Naruto; he was feeling much better, and Itachi hadn't shown up yet

For the first time in three years he was able to sleep peacefully and felt relaxed. Plus, Sasuke was always visiting him in the hospital, keeping him company.

Though for some reason, his gut was telling him not to get too comfortable; he knew Itachi wouldn't rest until his plan, whatever it was, was carried out. Naruto suspected that the older Uchiha was either trying to hurt him for the sake of hurting him, putting the village under pressure of a new threat, or trying to hurt Sasuke through the dobe.

Each of the ideas were likely, considering what kind of personality Itachi had and his past crimes.

Naruto desperately wanted to let someone know, especially Sasuke, but knew that it would put him and the village in danger.

He sighed whenever he thought that and tried to convince himself it was for the best. It would protect the ones he cared about so dearly. He would even have willingly given up his freedom and his life.

He smiled at that and looked out the window of his room in the hospital. There were a few clouds out, but the sun was still shining brightly.

At that moment there was a knock on the door. The blonde turned his head and told them to come in.

He wasn't surprised to see that it was Sasuke. He was holding two white cartons of, seemed to Naruto, like their lunch. He grinned and motioned for Sasuke to sit on the unoccupied chair next to him.

"Hey, dobe. How're you doing?" the Uchiha asked gently, as he sat down, handing a carton to Naruto.

"Much better now that you're here!" replied the blonde enthusiastically, opening up his lunch. "I owe you big time for these past few days."

"Shut up, you don't owe me anything. Oh, and I got miso soup instead of ramen today, else you're gonna get sick."

"Oh, okay...I guess I can go without ramen for today, though if I was feeling better, I'd punch you." said Naruto jokingly as he helped himself to the delicious soup. But of course he prefered ramen to miso soup any time.

"So, what have you been up to lately, since grandma Tsunade have a little vacation?"

"Nothing much, just the usual: training." the raven replied. "And visiting you." he added.

"Yeah, thanks, I really appreciate it."

Once they had finished eating, Sasuke threw away the empty cartons and sat back down.

"Naruto," Sasuke began. He wanted to let the blonde know that he didn't care how long it took to talk, about what happened, but just that he would wait patiently to be told. The raven glared at Naruto with gentle, yet powerful eyes. "I want to let you know that you don't have to rush things and that you can talk about what happened when you feel you're ready. Just make sure you tell someone. No one wants to see you hurt like this again."

He smiled and the dobe finally felt he was relieved of some stress he didn't know he had.

"I will, Sasuke. I promise," he replied. "It's not that I don't trust you or that I don't want to. I-it's just that I can't...I can't explain it, but when I can, you'll be the first to know."

They both smiled and understood. For the rest of the afternoon, into the evening, they both sat there and talked about various things, laughing and smiling. The medical nins came in twice in between to change Naruto's bandages and check up on his recovery, but otherwise, left the two alone.

The whole time, Naruto felt like he was being watched and just couldn't shake off the feeling. He looked out the window every time he felt it, but couldn't tell where it was coming from or who/what it was. All he knew was that there was an unwanted presence lingering around, seemingly waiting for Naruto to be alone.

The blonde feared it may be have been Itachi, finally showing up after a week's absence. He wanted Sasuke to stay for as long as possible and kept the conversations rolling, though the raven was bound to leave at some point.

Dreadfully, that time came around a little after eight o'clock.

"Well dobe, gotta go now and get some shut-eye. You sure talk- a lot! You get some rest, too. I'll come with lunch again tomorrow..." Sasuke said as he stood up.

"Oh...uh...yeah, I guess you're right," said Naruto reluctantly, glancing out the window. It had gotten dark now, but he could still sense a presence out their.

The Uchiha noticed the blonde's reluctance and wondered why today, all of a sudden, he didn't want hom to go home. He had observed how the dobe kept glancing out the window, but whenever he looked, he couldn't see or sense anything wrong. When Naruto looked out again as he said goodbye, he looked out, too. It was dark out, so he couldn't make out anything suspicious.

"Naruto, is something wrong? You keep looking outside..." asked the raven worried something was definitely wrong.

"Uh...no, of course not! Why could you think that? I just love looking at the autumn leaves!" replied Naruto, thinking fast. _Damn, Naruto, you idiot, you slipped up!_

"Hn...well,_ I_ don't think so. I'm telling the Hokage that I'll be your personal guard here until you get better. I know something's wrong Naruto, it's okay if you can't tell me." he said the last part with a gentle look at the blonde, reassuring him. "Wait."

With that he left to get his stuff and to inform Tsunade of his decision.

Naruto just sat there, dumbfounded, his eyes wide open to Sasuke's sudden outburst, watching his retreating back. He couldn't quit explain how he felt. It was a mixture of both relief and terror, relief for the fact that Sasuke would be at his side, but terror for what would come when Itachi was finally able to get to him.

At that very moment he felt strong firm hands grasping at his throat, strangling him. He looked up and faced the feared Sharingan eyes, showing him nothing but disgust and hate. Glancing at the window, he saw that it was open; a light breeze drifting in.

"Fool. You let your guard down. This is what you get when you put your trust in worthless ninja's like these. But, even without them, you're worthless; there's no way an insignificant brat like you can do anything worthwhile." he spat out. Smirking, he tightened his grip on the helpless blonde, who was struggling between consciousness and unconsciousness.

As the seconds passed by, Naruto slowly blacked out from the lack of air. He never knew whether Itachi said anything after that, but felt incredible pain somewhere on his body as his body became limp. He felt so powerless and inferior it was eating him out from the inside.

He shook his head, convincing himself that all would be well, and turned to glance out the window again.

At that very moment, he felt strong, firm hands grasping his neck, strangling him. He looked up, glancing into the feared Sharingan eyes, which showed him nothing but disgust and hate. Looking behind the older Uchiha, at the window, he saw that it was open, a light, cool breeze drifting in.

"Fool. You let your guard down. This is what you get when you put your trust in worthless ninja's like those. But even without them, you're worthless; there's no way an insignificant brat like you can do anything worthwhile." he hissed. Smirking, he tightened his grip on the helpless blonde, who was staggering between consciousness and unconsciousness.

As seconds passed by, he slowly blacked out. If Itachi ever said anything after that, the blonde never knew, but he did feel incredible pain as his body became limp. He felt so powerless and inferior; it was eating him out from the inside. Why couldn't he fight back? WHY?!

--

When at last Sasuke returned, with his weapons and traps, he froze at the sight of Naruto's empty bed. _But how? The medical nin would have noticed someone come in for sure! And I was only gone for about fifteen minutes!_

Panicking, he searched around the bed for any clues. When he walked around the bed to side of the window, he found the body of the unconscious blonde, lying on the floor, his back facing up. There was a new, bloody, scar on the dobe's back with an X shape.

Shocked, with a sudden clench in his gut, the Uchiha gently turned the blonde over onto his back. There, on the front of Naruto's shirt was a message written in blood: _X marks the spot. He now belongs to me._

_No...what does this mean?_ Sasuke's thought frantically in search for an explanation, sending a chill down his spine.

He picked up the Kyuubi holder, bridal style, and lay him down on the bed, taking care not to touch the new wound.

The blonde had a pained look on his face and there were marks on his neck which made the raven suspect that the dobe had been strangled as well.

He looked out the window, remembering how the dobe had been constantly looking out throughout the day. But since it was dark out, he couldn't really see anything, plus, the culprit must have been long gone by now.

The raven turned back to the blonde, observing him. He stroked the blonde's check, then lightly ran a hand through his hair. He gave a worried, questioning look at the blonde, though he knew he wouldn't get answer's to his mountain load of questions. It frustrating, but knew that the blonde would tell him when he was ready, and he didn't really mind, but he just didn't want the dobe to get hurt along the way.

He bent down, searching the blonde's face for a clue-anything!-that would lead to the culprit. He couldn't help brushing his hand lightly across the blonde's soft lips, his face turning red slightly.

The door opened and a medical nin came in, carrying fresh bandages, making their way towards Naruto's bed. Sasuke snapped up and turned to face her, his face still rosy. She understood what she had walked in on, but made her way to the dobe nonetheless. She froze when she noticed Naruto's bloody shirt.

"I went out for a few minutes and when I came back, I found him like this on the floor. There's a mark on his back, too." Sasuke informed the nin. "Could you take a look at it?"

"Of course," she replied, in a slightly hesitant tone. "But...how? If anyone had come in, we would have known!"

She turned the blonde over onto his stomach again, with the raven's help and gasped as she saw how the bloody the new wound was. She quickly ripped open Naruto's shirt and unwound the old bandages, revealing the old scars.

Sasuke was devastated at how gruesome it all was; almost every inch of his skin was scarred in some way or other. He knew that most of the blonde's body was covered in marks such as those, but he hadn't thought it was that bad. Now that he saw them, he felt like someone had just stabbed him with a knife. Rage grew inside of him and he so desperately wanted to go outside and chase the one who had done that to the dobe, but he kept in mind that if he stayed with the Kyuubi holder, it would help him more.

The medical nin worked feverishly to clean the new wound and put the special ointment on the limp Naruto, who moaned in his sleep as it stung his skin. When she finished that, she started wrapping the bandages around him, careful not to hurt him anymore.

"He should be up again by morning, the gash isn't too deep, luckily." she told Sasuke as she cleaned up. "But, it just makes me wonder who in the world would do such a thing! I'll go tell the Hokage about this right away, and you keep an eye on him. If he wakes up before he's supposed to, then put him back to sleep! He need's rest!"

"Yes, of course. Thank you," said Sasuke, looking down at the blonde. He walked over to the door and closed it when the medical nin left. Walking over to the bed, he sighed, wondering what to do next.

The dobe was fast asleep now, escaping the world around him. _I should make sure this doesn't happen again._

With that, the raven got to work on setting up traps around the window and air ducts, making absolutely sure no one would be able to get in. Around midnight, when he was absolutely sure that the room was safe, he set up his makeshift bed and went to sleep.

--

In the middle of the night, just outside the village, walked Itachi, wide awake, into the forest. He was quite content that night. The first step in his final plan to make Naruto, and the Kyuubi his, had gone exceptionally well. Plus, he had seen just how scared the Kyuubi holder was of him. He wouldn't speak of the older Uchiha even if his life depended on it.

It was just too easy to manipulate worthless beings like them. Just too easy.

Now, all he had to do was waiting until the blonde brought the raven to him. Then, two more lives would be dragged down to hell.

Itachi smirked and walked deeper into the forest, hiding in the shadows, so as not to be seen by unwanted eyes.

--

Sasuke awoke at the crack of dawn, keeping his senses alert and awake; he was Naruto's guard, after all. He leaned against the wall and stared out the window, watching the sun rise slowly into the sky.

At around noon, the blonde finally came to. Sasuke was at his side within seconds, looking down him, masking his worry.

"Ughh..." was all that left Naruto's lips, as his eyes opened, but then shut tight again, to block the immediate sunlight invading the room.

Sasuke walked over and closed the half open curtains from the night before. He walked back to the bed, leaning over the blonde again, searching intently for answers to the night before.

When Naruto's eyes opened again, the first sight he saw was Sasuke's raven-black hair, and deep, dark eyes surrounded by pale skin.

"Ahhhhh! No! Get away!" Naruto pushed back the shocked raven, sat up, clutching himself by the corner of his bed, trying to put as much distance between himself and Sasuke. He wrapped his arms around his head, trying to make Sasuke go invisible. "No...no...go away!"

The younger Uchiha looked at the blonde from where he was standing in complete shock. _What's going on?_ "Dobe, listen, look at me!"

But Naruto was still clinging to himself in terror, hands around his knees and head tucked in, hoping for the Uchiha to disappear.

"It's me, Sasuke! Look," the raven cautiously walked over the dobe, and put his arms around him, holding him, comforting him, trying to get the blonde to look at him.

"No, don't touch me!" the dobe sat, frozen, by the corner of his bed, creeping away from the raven gentle touch. When the blonde still didn't respond, he leaned his head on Naruto's shoulder, still keeping his arms around him, but trying to show him that his guard was down and that he wouldn't do anything. He felt comforted, but knew that the Uchiha would lash out at him soon enough.

"Dobe, be quiet, and just calm down. Don't you recognize me?" asked Sasuke, as he sat by the dobe's bed, holding him close, so as to calm him down. "I won't harm you, okay? Promise."

After a few minutes of silence, Naruto finally looked up, facing the raven with his bright blue eyes. It seemed he had finally remembered where he was and what was happening. He looked into Sasuke's eyes, expressing his apology. "Sasuke...? I-I'm sorry...I thought...I thought that you were...uh..."

"-it's okay," Sasuke cut in. "You don't have to say anything, I'm just glad you're back to normal. You were seriously scaring me for a minute there."

They both sat there, Sasuke still holding the blonde, staring into each other's eyes. It was an odd moment and both wanted to tell the other what they really felt, but stayed quiet in fear of rejection.

"So, how're you feeling?" Sasuke asked, as he got up, letting the blonde sit comfortably in his bed. "I bet that new cut on your back stings a lot."

"Wha-? What new cut?" the blonde asked with a shocked expression. He stretched his arms back to check if what the raven said was true. He couldn't feel much over his bandages, which he realized were changed, along with his clothes, but he did feel some sharp pain whenever he turned his body in an awkward direction.

"Sasuke...what exactly happened last night?" the dobe asked him in desperation for an answer. "I remember up to when you left and when that guy came in. Everything's foggy after that."

"How am I supposed to, I wasn't there. But from what I can tell, that _guy_ came in and made you go unconscious from pain by scarring you on your back. He even left a message." Sasuke replied. He walked over to a corner of the room and held up Naruto's ripped and bloody shirt from the night before, revealing the message left behind.

The blonde was left speechless at the sight of his ruined shirt. He looked down; closing his eyes, hiding his pained looked. He understood what the message was supposed to mean to him. He had to go. He had to leave now before anyone got hurt. He probably had two days-at most-until Itachi returned for him. He didn't want to leave! He didn't want to spend time with the older Uchiha when he could rather be here with the younger. He knew he would be hurt again, and he thought he had finally gained from freedom from the night the week before. But he knew he wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to Sasuke or any of his other friends.

"Hey, dobe. Don't worry; the Hokage has placed several extra guards around the village gates and the forest, too. If the guy tried anything like this again, he'll be captured and found out." Sasuke smirked as he came closer to the bed, sitting down on the chair beside it. "You want ramen today? I guess we can order some lunch since you already missed breakfast."

Naruto looked up, plastering a big, goofy smile across his face. "Yeah, defiantly! I'm starving!"

Just that moment, Sakura and one of her medical assistants walked in, carrying some tools and medicine.

"Hey Naruto, you feeling better? Is he, Sasuke? I heard about what happened last night, I was devastated when I heard, so I offered to do your check up today." she walked over to Naruto's bed and started to check his breathing and pulse and things like that. "I'm so glad Sasuke's going to be here now, it should guarantee your recovery."

She motioned for the blonde to take off his shirt so that she could clean his wounds and change the bandages again.

The blonde got down from his bed and took off his shirt, blushing lightly. He deliberately faced away from Sasuke, not wanting to show him any more of the wounds, but mainly to shield him from sight of the ancient Uchiha family crest on his chest.

Sakura winced as she saw the bloody cuts and scars across his body, as did Sasuke, despite him always being steady and cool-headed.

Naruto winced and backed away by reflex whenever the pink haired nin touched one of the new wounds.

"Hold still, Naruto! I know it hurts, but I'm trying my best to help you." she looked at him apologetically, then continued on.

When she was done with that, her assistant packed up and then Sakura started wrapping the new bandages around the blonde.

"There, done," she said when she had finished. "Just get some rest, okay? We'll come back again in the evening."

She motioned for her assistant to follow her and the two made their way towards the door.

"Wait, Sakura, hold on," Sasuke pushed her towards the door, following her. "I have to tell you our lunch order. Since I'm staying you'll have to get us lunch."

He pushed out the door, and then followed, closing the door behind him. He used lunch as an excuse to get some privacy.

"Listen," he whispered. He told her about Naruto's sudden outburst that morning.

"What?! He thought you were the one who did all that to him?" Sakura asked, shocked. "But why would he think that? Unless...!"

"Exactly what I think. We both have similar looks so he could have mistaken me for him." Sasuke said bitterly.

"I'll go tell the Hokage, you make sure nothing happens to Naruto again. If Itachi comes back, who knows what he may do. Be careful!"

"I will, don't worry." said Sasuke reassuringly. "Oh, and can you get us some ramen for lunch, please? Naruto'll kill me if we don't have ramen."

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Sakura smiled and walked away, leaving Sasuke to return back to Naruto.

Sasuke walked into the room again to find Naruto quietly staring out the window, a gloomy expression on his face.

"Alright, ramen for lunch, again," Sasuke said emotionlessly, leaving Naruto to his own world. He had a doubt that the dobe may do something stupid, so he stayed quiet and just watched him.

The blonde was thinking. About the night before. And the night to come. _I'll have to leave tonight_, Naruto thought to himself dreadfully, _before anyone else gets hurt. _He closed his eyes imagining the night before him.

Sasuke thought the dobe was in pain, the way he shut his eyes so randomly. He was about to ask if anything was wrong, but the blonde opened his eyes again, and sighed. _There's something wrong, I can feel it._

--

For the rest of the day, the two didn't really talk much to each other, as they were both lost in their own thoughts to bother talking aloud.

When Sakura came again later in the evening, Naruto casually asked her to wrap and extra layer of bandages, saying he felt as though the wounds open again any minute.

He congratulated himself for his acting; he had convinced the pink-haired nin to wrap an extra layer. But, he didn't see was the suspicious look given his way by the raven.

--

The hours passed by with little conversation between the two.

At around ten in the late evening, Naruto said he was feeling tired, and went to sleep after Sasuke turned off the lights.

The raven had doubts, so he only pretended to be sleeping; knowing something bad was going to happen. A few minutes later, he heard the sound of heavy breathing, knowing the blonde had fallen asleep. He let his guard down slightly, but was still wide awake, staring out the window, at the shining moon making it's way up among the stars.

The night had only begun.

**Oooooo, what will happen next, I wonder?**

**Review please. I hope it wasn't too bad.**


	7. Night's Prey

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Even if I did, I'd still go on with the story.**

When the moon had risen to it's peek, in the middle of the dark, and lonely night, Naruto opened his eyes. The first sight that caught his eye was the beautiful shining orb hanging the night sky, surrounded by the tiny little stars.

He sat up, quietly, and listened to Sasuke sleep. He was breathing heavily and softly, meaning he was definitely asleep. As quietly as possible, he turned his body towards the window on his right and brought his feet down. Shivers went down his spine as his feet touched the cold floor of the hospital.

His body hurt everywhere; all his muscles screamed out in pain, begging for rest. The blonde ignored it and silently walked over to where Sasuke was sleeping in sitting position, opposite to the window. He relied on the light of the moon to see his way through. Naruto waved a hand out in front of Sasuke's face, making absolute sure he wasn't awake. If he had all his equipment, he would've drugged the raven, just to be safe, but he'd have to rely on his senses and intuition for now.

He grabbed a spare blanket left by the corner, wrapping it around himself, and walked over to the window again, his back facing Sasuke. Sighing to himself, he closed his eyes, thinking over, again, if this really was the right thing to do. He didn't want to go, he really didn't, but if it was to protect his friends, then he would do anything to keep them out of harm's way. He opened his eyes and looked out the window, searching for something.

Unknown to him was that Sasuke was, in fact, awake. He had heard the dobe rustling under his covers and the quiet sounds of his feet against the floor. Cautiously, the raven opened his eyes, to find the blonde looking out the window. It didn't seem to him as if the dobe would do anything drastic, he was just looking out the window. _Probably couldn't sleep after what happened last night_, thought the Uchiha. _Then again, who knows with Naruto? Better keep a close watch..._

It was quite dark outside, and the blonde had some trouble making out the figures from moonlight alone. He thought he could feel someone looking at him from behind a tree, and sure enough, when he looked more intently around that tree, he saw a flash of blood-red eyes staring back. Naruto gulped. He still wasn't sure what to do. Rather that's what he tried to convince himself; he just plain didn't want to go. He took a deep breath and started to open the window as slowly and quietly as possible, hoping against hope that someone would stop him.

Sasuke's head jerked up and without a second thought, he was at Naruto's side, stopping his arm from going any further.

"What do you think you're doing? Your attacker could be back at any moment and here you are, opening the window," Sasuke hissed into Naruto's ear, sending chills of shock down his spine. He had made sure the raven was fast asleep, yet here he was, standing right in front of him, wide awake!

Naruto avoided looking directly at the raven, unsure of what to say; stalling for time. "I...uh...I just wanted some fresh air...I guess I didn't think about that...heh heh..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Did Naruto really think he'd fall for that? Nonetheless, he played along, hoping he'd be able to keep Naruto from leaving. "Fresh air? Fine, I guess I'd like some fresh air, too."

With that, Sasuke lowered his hand from blocking Naruto and turned around towards the window, acting as normal as possible. He felt the blonde give him a weird look, but then, he, too leaned in towards the window.

He was stuck now. How could he leave without Sasuke following him? He casually glanced at the tree again, where he had seen the pair blood-thirsty eyes, and saw that they were gone. He felt his stomach clench and he felt very uneasy. Itachi could very well come in and attack Sasuke.

"So, you're not tired? 'Cause if you are, you can go to sleep you know. You don't have to stay up with me," Naruto told the raven.

"That's alright, I'm okay. Besides, your attacker could come back any time." The Uchiha glanced sideways at Naruto. He could clearly tell Naruto wanted to be left alone, and he also knew why, so he didn't mind it when Naruto looked out the window with a sad expression. The raven knew that what he was doing was the right thing, if he let Naruto go, nothing but misfortune would come to both the village and the dobe.

Sasuke turned around, now leaning with his lower back on the window sill. He ran a hand through his hair, and looked sideways at Naruto, watching him carefully.

A few minutes passed by with nothing said; both were thinking of what to do next.

The raven blinked, his eyes still fixed on the now uncomfortable blonde. He was still quite amazed with the blonde's endurance. If he had been in the dobe's place, he probably wouldn't have been able to walk yet.

The Uchia sighed and looked up at the ceiling where most of his traps where hanging, dormant. When he lazily looked down at the blonde again, he found the other ninja was backing away from the window, an expression of horror clearly spread across his pale face. By the time the Uchiha himself had turned around to face the window, he found that it was open, a cool, haunting breeze sneaking in.

There was a figure calmly sitting on the window sill, feet inside the room. The raven wasn't quite able to make out the face, but he could sense a familiar chakra scent. The man was draped in a dark cloak, and was holding a Katana in his right hand. An instant feeling of fear spread through Sasuke's body, telling him to run far, far, away from this dark silhouette. Yet, despite that, it appeared he was unable to move even an inch.

The raven darted his eyes at the dobe again , who was now unable to back away any further, due to the bed. Naruto was looking at the man on the window sill with an expression across his face that clearly meant that he did not want to be there.

"I've come to claim what's mine. If you want to live, don't move." the man's whisper floated across the room, sending chills down the two ninjas' spine's. He stepped down without a sound and took the few steps towards the frozen blonde ninja. The cloaked figure took out his left hand and grabbed Naruto's wrist, making sure to dig his nails into his skin.

"Ugh!" The kyuubi holder finally seemed to snap out of it as he felt the sharp pain. "No! I won't -"

The dobe froze again when the intruder threw a kunai at the raven. Sasuke had barely dodged it; the kunai had scratched his left shoulder. It wasn't a very deep scratch, but it had the rest of his shoulder covered in blood.

"Don't worry, I'm okay," Sasuke told the blonde. He then threw himself at the cloaked figure, trying to punch him in the face, hoping he'd let go of the dobe.

It didn't work, though; the other man just blocked him with his fore-arm, still not letting go of the blonde, and the raven was knocked over to the side. When the figure was about to slash the younger Uchiha with his Katana, Sasuke moved over to the side just in time and threw his kunai towards the man's arm, forcing him to let go of Naruto.

Sasuke had a suspicion that he knew who that man was, he just wanted to bring him into the light in order to see his face properly. The voice was similar, too, but he couldn't quite tell because the intruder had only whispered so far. He activated his Sharingan so he'd be able to tell what his opponent's next move would be, but when got up to strike next, he was always left one step behind.

Naruto was looking with horror on his face as he saw Sasuke and his attacker fight in front of him. He didn't know what to do. He was hoping Sasuke would win and that he wouldn't have to go with the other man, but knew that was unlikely to happen with the other's power and skill. He wanted to help, too, but he was still aching everywhere and he knew he'd only be in the way. He found himself backed up against the wall, in the shadows, away from the fighting. His face was pale and he felt feverish, he just wanted everything to end.

The intruder had temporarily knocked the raven down onto the floor and took the opportunity to grab the blonde. He pulled Naruto over to the window sill and turned him around so his back was facing the silent world outside.

The blonde was trying desperately to fight against the firm hands of his attacker. He kicked and punch and flailed his arms around, trying to save him and give the raven more time to recover. He was punched hard on the side of his face with the hilt of the threatening Katana and was knocked out.

His body fell backwards and he was about to fall down to the ground below.

Sasuke had just gotten up and saw in horror as the blonde was falling out the window, unconscious. He rushed forward to pull him back, arms stretched out, but before he could reach him, the other man, who was now facing the raven, face still hidden in the creeping shadows of the trees, held up his Katana and made as if to slash the younger Uchiha.

Sasuke backed up in reflex, to avoid the blow, but when he looked up again both the blonde and the cloaked figure had vanished.

He went over to the window and looked out. He saw shadows disappear into the trees directly in front of him. He put his hands against the window sill, to jump out after the two, and felt some hot liquid touch his fingers. He looked down and saw blood. _Damn, he was aiming for Naruto? Why didn't I pick that up with my Sharingan? And why didn't any of the traps work?_

He looked back up and jumped out, to after the cloaked man and the blonde. It didn't take long to finally get sight of them. The blonde was unconscious under the other man's arm. Every now and then there would be a drop of blood falling down onto the branches of the trees.

It appeared that the kidnapper was heading towards the village gates, hoping to escape with the blonde. _I'll corner him outside of the village, that way, no one else will get hurt._

Once outside of Konoha, Sasuke sped up and started to throw his kunai to slow down his prey. He never got a direct hit, as the other ninja was always one step ahead of him. But finally after a few minutes, the man started to slow down and Sasuke took the opportunity to stop him completely.

He had the man up against the trunk of an old tree, with a kunai at his neck. Full of anger, and loathing, he brought out the man into the light of the moon, where he would clearly be able to see his face. To his dismay, it wasn't at all whom he had suspected him of being.

It wasn't anyone he knew, but the man's eyes were just as red as his own. It was a wonder to Sasuke how a man outside the Uchiha clan could have gained the ability of the Sharingan. He understood why Kakashi sensei did; afterall he was a prodigy in a way, but _this_ man?

Without another thought, he grabbed the blonde back into his own arms and moved his hand to get rid of the Sharingan user once and for all, but was knocked back with a hard punch to the stomach. Sasuke was left kneeling down, trying to support the unconscious Naruto and trying to fall over form the immediate pain.

The man kicked the raven over onto his side and took the dobe away from him again.

"W-who...are you?" asked the raven on the floor, trying to gather himself up again.

The man smirked and ground his foot into the raven's hand as he tried to get up.

"That's not for you to know; I came only for the kyuubi. I don't plan on telling worthless things like that to an insignificant, soon-to-be-dead worm like you." his whisper was loud enough just so that the raven was able to hear.

The words stung him like daggers and he felt his anger and rage come back again. He pushed the man aside, caught the falling Naruto and attacked with his phoenix flower jutsu. It sent the surrounding place to fire, with the man in the midst of it.

Satisfied, he turned around and started towards the village again with the blonde in his arms.

The next thing he knew, everything went black as he felt searing pain spread throughout his body.

--

When Naruto regained consciousness later on, he realized that he, in fact, wasn't dead! He found himself sleeping on some giant leaves spread out on the forest floor. It was just past dawn and the sun was slowly making its way up the sky.

When he tried to get up he felt pain all across his chest. He looked down at himself and found a huge, bloody gash spread from his chest to his side. Then he remembered; he had been slashed as he had been trying to get away from the other man at the hospital the night before.

The blonde figured that Sasuke hadn't been able to stop Itachi in time and that's how he ended up in the forest. _Oh no, where is Itachi anyway? _He looked around, but didn't see any signs of the older Uchiha. _He wouldn't just leave me here...unless he wants me to be torn apart by some wild animals._

He stood up slowly, leaning against the trunk of a huge tree beside him. He had no idea where he was, and didn't know where to go. But his instincts told him to get away from where he was as soon as possible, before Itachi found him. He wanted desperately to know how the raven was doing, hoping he'd gotten away safely.

The blonde heard a sound from somewhere to right, it sounded like a wounded animal. He stopped to listen, and heard it again. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to find out what it was that was making the noise; it could be a trap. After a few minutes of hesitation, and more urgency in the sounds coming from the forest, curiosity got the better of him and he staggered towards the direction the groans were coming from.

As he got closer, within a few feet of the source of the noise, he recognized a familiar smell. He was sure of it, it was definitely the smell of blood. He sped up his pace, still using the trees for support.

When he crossed some bushes, he froze at the sight of what he saw.

It was Sasuke. But not the Sasuke whom Naruto had last seen. This one was bloody and beaten up, with bruises and still-healing scars across his body.

The blonde leaped forward, landing beside the unconscious raven. He started to panic, and felt knots forming in his stomache.

"Sa-Sasuke! No!" leaning down, he pulled the raven into his arms, staining his clothes with crimson blood.

_This wasn't supposed to happen. It's supposed to be me in your place! No..._

Panic started to rise within him as he desperatly tried to stop the blood from flowing. He took off his shirt and ripped it into strips, quickly tying it around the raven's wounds to stop the bleeding at least temporarily.

He laid Sasuke down on some leaves he piled up on the ground, away from the blood. _I should get him out of here before Itachi shows up, damn it. _

He looked around him, wondering why Itachi hadn't shown up yet. Usually, he wouldn't wait so long to hear Naruto scream in terror and pain, but, oddly, he hadn't shown himself yet.

The blonde started to worry now; how much longer did the two of them have until Itachi finally planned to unleash his wrath on them? The dobe was sure he wouldn't just leave Sasuke there, not until he had hurt him just as he had hurt the blonde.

Making up his mind, he gathered the raven into his arms, concentrating his chakra to his feet, and jumped to the trees. He thought that if he could at least tell where they were, then he'd be able to get the both of them out of there - that is, if Itachi didn't show up before then.

He found that they, in fact, weren't too far from the village; he could faintly see the tall gates, protecting the village. _I should get there in about twenty minutes...I hope._

With that, he started towards the village, the raven still in his arms, unconcious. It took all Naruto had to keep himself from passing out. He had to make sure that at least Sasuke got back to the village safely.

The two were nearly halfway to Konoha, when the blonde felt a familiar chakra scent getting closer. He felt chills run down his spine and he increased his speed, trying to get away from the inevitable. He blinked once and had to stop immediately.

The dobe found himself face-to-face with the older Uchiha, blood-red eyes carving into his own, a smirk across the other's face.

"I underestimated you. I wouldn't have thought that you would awake so soon," Itachi spoke with a blunt voice, hitting the blonde in the face so that Naruto went crashing down into the forest floor below, the raven landing on top of him.

"Ugh!"

Itachi stepped down from his spot on the trees and pushed the dobe back down on his back as he tried getting up. He took out his Katana and dug it into the blonde's arm, allowing the blood to stain the grass and soil under him.

Naruto bit his lip so as not to cry out loud in the pain that met his arm. He also didn't want to get Sasuke into the mess between himself and the older Uchiha.

"Hn...so my dear brother is still hear? I had expected him to be awake by now...but I guess not," he aimed a kunai at the raven, as he had done earlier in the hospital.

The dobe pushed Sasuke away just in time and rolled over to his side himself, saving both of them. "Don't bring Sasuke into this, he has nothing to do with any of this!"

"Stop fooling yourself, my brother has everything to do with this. Of course, I don't expect worthless ninja like you to understand," he smirked again and slashed his Katana unexpectedly at the blonde, who barely got out of the way him time. Itachi didn't really feel like wasting his chakra on something as trivial as this, so he resorted to plain, old-fashioned torture.

"W-what's Sasuke got to do with this?" the dobe was now cornered against the trunk of a tree, with Itachi towering over him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"There is no point in telling you anything. I see you can barely keep yourself alive, how do you expect to save him?" the older Uchiha made sure to make his meaning very plain; there was no hope for a worthless ninja like the blonde to ever even hope to defeat him.

It was quite true, too; Naruto was hardly able to even keep himself conscious. The only thought that went through his head was that he had to take Sasuke away from all this, before the situation got any worse than it was right now. He looked at the limp form of the raven, lying on the ground a few feet away from him, in an awkward position as the blonde had hastily pushed him away from the kunai.

Itachi stepped closer his Sharingan eyes piercing into Naruto's, paralyzing him. He noticed how the dobe as eyeing the raven. "I dare you to even think about it..."

The blonde was now under full panic; he was going to die and he couldn't do anything to save himself, let alone Sasuke.

The older Uchiha raised the Katana he was holding, giving the dobe a merciless look. A look that Naruto understood as his end.

As the older ninja leapt forward aiming to strike the blonde, Naruto raised his arms above his head, and curled up against the tree trunk.

_Sasuke...I love you...goodbye..._

He had his eyes shut tight and felt his heart pounding faster then it ever had before. He felt absolute terror as he tried to get away from pain that was to come.

But.

That pain never came.

Terrified that Itachi was just playing with him and that when he would open his eyes, he'd feel the pain, the blonde kept his eyes closed. He heard the grass rustle due to the movement of feet, which he knew where Itachi's. But then he also heard a whisper. _"Don't."_

Curious of whom the whisper belonged to, because it clearly wasn't Itachi's, he peeked his eyes open.

Unable to help himself, he opened his eyes wide open in shock at what he saw.

Sasuke.

The raven had himself in front of Naruto, holding up two kunai, blocking the Katana's wrath.

"What...? _Sasuke!_ How - what - what?!" the blonde managed a barely audible whisper, his eyes wide in shock.

"Dobe...get away from here, I'll take care of him," Sasuke turned his head back slightly, towards Naruto, then whispered, "He's hurt you enough."

"Foolish _brother_, you still don't have enough power to stop me. I'll do as I wish."

Naruto felt his sense come back alive, he was able to move more freely now that the older Uchiha' concentration had been diverted.

He understood what the raven had meant, and his instincts told him to do as he said, but he wasn't able to just leave the other ninja behind. _A ninja would die for their comrade. _That was what Sasuke was trying to do; save the blonde with his own life. But Naruto was still capable to fighting; he felt the anger and rage rise up inside of him as Itachi unexpectedly hit Sasuke in the face.

"No...I'm not leaving - I can't." Naruto spoke with confidence as different emotions raged through him all at once. "Not until this creep pays!"

**Thanks for reading, review please and let me know what you think.**


	8. Night's Fury

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, but please, oh please, can't I have Shikamaru?!**

Here is it, guys. Hope you like it. Might be a bit OOC, but I hope it's not, tell me what you think.

_"No...I'm not leaving - I can't." Naruto spoke with confidence as different emotions raged through him all at once. "Not until this creep pays!" _

"Don't be so stupid. You think you can defeat me in your condition?" Itachi scoffed, though he had a blank expression on his face. "Even if the both of you were fully healed, there's no way you can win."

As though unaffected by Itachi's comment, the blonde slowly got up, trying not to wince from the pain of his previous wounds. He had no weapons and he was in his hospital pajama pants, since he had used his shirt to stop Sasuke's bleeding earlier.

The raven was getting back up beside the blonde, though he, too, was staggering slightly from the fight a few hours ago. He passed a kunai knife to Naruto so that the blonde would have some way of defending himself.

"Dobe, you need to get out of here; call someone from Konoha, Kakashi-sensei or someone else."

"No, I already told you, I'm not leaving. I can't leave you here alone, not with _him_," at that last word, the blonde leaped forward, towards the older Uchiha, with the kunai knife in front of him, ready to attack.

It hardly took Itachi any effort to knock the dobe down onto the ground, throwing some shuriken stars to hurt his prey some more.

"Arrggg!"

"-Naruto!" Sasuke charged at his older brother as well, activating his Sharingan at the same time._ I don't have enough chakra left for more than five minutes' worth. We need to end this soon. _

By the time Itachi was able to react to the raven's movements, Sasuke had preformed the substitution-jutsu, now facing the older Uchiha from the top. He threw his kunai at the man below and used the substitution technique again, to make sure he wouldn't get hurt when Itachi attacked.

Sasuke landed in the bushes behind the dobe, who was pinned to the ground from the earlier shuriken stars. He let his Sharingan go; he didn't think he could keep it up any longer. It was already taking his body the most of his effort just to be able to stay conscious.

The raven felt a presence behind him, which caused chills to spread down his spine. He blinked once, to shake off the feeling, but when he opened his eyes again, he noticed that Itachi had disappeared from view. Before he could reach to any conclusion, he felt the something similar to ropes starting to bind him. He turned his neck around to look at what was happening, and saw that his older kin was using a special jutsu to bind Sasuke with ropes controlled by his chakra (much like Kidomaru).

Within a few seconds, he was fully bound to the trunk of the nearest tree, only able to move his head. He was in clear view of the blonde who was finally getting up from his last blow.

He was unable to do anything but watch as the older Uchiha member walked over to the stumbling blonde.

The dobe was kicked down onto his back again when the older man kicked at his chest. He immediately got up again, out of reflex as he felt a burning liquid come up his throat. He was on all fours now, one hand, clutching his chest, coughing. The blonde felt another kick, this time to his side, and was knocked over onto his back. He felt the hot liquid trickling down the side of his mouth.

He wiped it off the back of his hand as he tried to get up again and stared, horrified, when he noticed that it was it blood. It took him a few seconds to recollect himself.

The blonde looked up, looking for where the raven went, hoping he was safe, but felt a piercing pain on the back of his left shoulder instead.

Sasuke watched, horrified, as his older brother dug his katana into the dobe's shoulder. He cringed, closing his eyes, when he heard the blood-curling scream of the wounded ninja. His felt his guts clench up and he felt sick.

The scream finally stopped when the dobe felt he couldn't go on. He was extremely exhausted and pain struck him at every inch of his body. _NO! I can't take any more...end it...just...let me die..._ was all the blonde could think. He was losing consciousness and felt his body get heavier as he saw the ground coming closer and closer to his face.

"Itachi! Let him go!" the raven shouted at the older Uchiha. "It's me you're after, right! Let him go and you can have me instead; he's suffered enough!"

Itachi ignored his younger brother and continued to twist his Katana sword into the dobe's shoulder, who had now gone limp, lying on the ground floor, surrounded by blood, a single tear sliding down his face.

"NO!" the raven screamed. "NO! Let him go, he's had enough; he'll die!"

He could feel burning hot tears falling from his eyes as he pleaded to his older brother to let the dobe go.

The older Uchiha continued to ignore him, but took his sword out of the dobe's shoulder, leaving him lying limply on the forest floor, and walked over to where he had tied his younger brother. He had the look of pure hatred spread across his face.

Sasuke gulped as he saw that Itachi was slowly coming his way, with the raised Katana, and knew that he'd soon be in same state as Naruto.

Sure enough, Itachi had slashed his katana at the raven, freeing him of the ropes, yet made sure that he would be harmed in the process. The raven now had a wound across his chest and arms, which was quickly bloodying his Jonin uniform.

Sasuke took the opportunity to use his phoenix flower jutsu, catching Itachi by surprise, despite the fact that he still had his Sharingan activated.

The raven-haired ninja quickly went over to the seemingly unconscious blonde, heaving him up over his shoulder, and tried to make a run towards the village; they were so close, yet so far. It wouldn't take too long to get there, if only Itachi was held off for even five minutes.

Sasuke knew that wasn't to happen; just as he got taken a few steps towards Konoha, the older Uchiha had sent some kunai and shuriken towards the two, slowing them down. Next thing he knew, he was face-to-face with his older brother, looking directly into those blood thirsty eyes.

_Damn...what do I do now?_ Sasuke thought desperately as he was kicked back towards the forest floor. _I need help... _

As he lay on the floor, waiting for the next blow, trying to protect the blonde lying under him, he sent a kunai flying up into the air. It went higher than the tree line and when it reached its highest point, it exploded, creating a huge cloud of smoke and a loud bang.

_I hope the signal works; someone better have seen it, I can't keep this up_, the raven thought as he was slashed with kunai. It was getting increasingly difficult not to let go of the blonde, whom Itachi was trying to tear away from him.

"I do not intend to kill you," Itachi hissed in Sasuke's ear when he tried yet again to split the two apart. "It would be better if you just let the sorry excuse for a ninja go."

"No, I can't, he's been through enough already." the raven said bitterly clutching the blonde ninja tightly in his arms, protecting him from the older Uchiha's wrath. "Why are you doing this? What's your reason for-"

He wasn't able to finish his question; there was a blinding flash of white light. Every thing went silent.

* * *

"NO! Let him go, he's had enough; he'll die!"

_"Sasuke?" _

The blonde wondered out loud.

_"Is that you?" _

The blonde opened his eyes and looked around. All was dark.

No. Not all. There was a light. He walked towards it. He could the raven crying out to let him go.

_"Sasuke? I'm alright, what are you doing?"_ The dobe yelled out to the light he was nearing.

**He can't hear you.** A voice echoed from the direction of the light. The blonde was faintly able to see the outline of a non-human figure.

_"Huh? Wha-? Kyuubi, is that you? Where am I? What are you doing here? Where's Sasuke? What's going on?"_ Naruto ran towards the fox-demon, bombarding him with questions.

**You are inside your mind. I brought you here; if you had stayed conscious for any longer, your mind would not have been able to handle it, and I would have lost my host body.**

Naruto had finally reached the Kyuubi who was towering over the young ninja; a menacing look in it's eyes. It was true what the fox-demon was saying; Naruto found himself in front of the large gates which kept the Kyuubi sealed, the same fiery glow surrounding him as usual.

_"What about Sasuke? I can hear him yelling, what's going on?"_ Naruto demanded.

The Kyuubi sighed; he seemed to be bit tired. **Your friend is currently fending of your attacker. To him, you are unconscious.**

_"Then let me go back; I've got to help him! He can't defeat Itachi on his own, not in his condition." _

**I cannot let you out. You are not strong enough to fight back. You attacker, so called Itachi, has made your body completely** **useless.**

_"Bu-!" _

**If I send you back, you will feel nothing but pain.**

_"I don't care! If I don't go, Sasuke gonna die! Besides, can't you help?" _

**I cannot; I am already spending most of my chakra in trying to heal you. I would not be able to help you.**

Naruto sighed, frustrated; he knew that Kyuubi was right. There was no way he could out on his own and help Sasuke, he'd just be in the way, and Kyuubi had been trying to heal him, spending most of his chakra. He felt so miserable and disappointed. If he didn't do something soon, Sasuke would be killed, and all because he, Naruto, wasn't strong enough.

Sensing the dobe's feelings, the fox demon spoke after a few minutes of thought. **I can give enough chakra for five minutes' worth. Do you think that would be enough?**

The blonde took in what he said and thought about what he'd be able to do in five minutes. A few moments later, he gave the fox-demon a big grin and a thumbs up.

_"Don't worry, five minutes should be more than enough time! Now let's go before Itachi can do any more damage," the blonde said we great determination. _

**Okay, act quick, and try not to use too much chakra, you'll be very weak afterwards.** The fox-demon let out his chakra, pushing the dobe back to consciousness.

There was a great big flash of white light and Naruto found himself in a daze.

* * *

Sasuke had to close his eyes against the light that was flowing out from under him. He felt his body become light and when he peeked open his eyes to look down, he saw that he was floating mid-air, and Naruto was emitting a massive golden-red chakra flow which had surprised even Itachi. The raven came down slowly and landed beside the dobe, shocked at what was happening.

The blonde had regained consciousness and was standing at full strength ready to attack. _Alright Kyuubi, let's do this! _

He leapt towards Itachi, who was still staring at the dobe in shock, and landed a punch on the side of his face and scratched his side with a kunai knife (the one Sasuke had given him earlier).

The older Uchiha had barely dodged the second blow in time. He tried to form the hand-seals to one of his forbidden justu's but Naruto had used his Kagebunshin no justu first. All the Naruto's preformed their Uzumaki Barage and knocked down Itachi. It took a few seconds for him to get up and defend himself from the different Naruto's who were attacking all at once.

The dobe had created a diversion to keep the older Uchiha busy with his clones while he and another of himself worked on getting his Rasengan together.

The raven had crawled over to the side and collapsed from exhaustion. He was still conscious, but just barely. He watched as the dobe fought against his older brother. He had a small smile on his lips as he saw that the blonde was winning. He couldn't really keep up with all the dobe's movements in his state, but was happy that the blonde was at least able to land Itachi some damage.

When Naruto had directly hit Itachi with his Rasengan he began to feel a bit tired; he had already used up four of his five minutes and he had to end this soon. He got up to attack the older Uchiha again, but had to double over from the sudden pain in his chest. He doubled over, clutching his chest, a pained expression on his face.

"Arg! No...not...yet...urg!" The dobe looked at down at his arms and noticed that he had been hit with poison needles without him noticing. Now the it was spreading through his veins and had him nearly paralyzed with pain.

Sasuke jerked involuntarily as he saw the dobe hunch over on the ground, watching blood spill over the grass. He tried to get up to help the blonde, but was hit with a kunai from Itachi, pinning him to the tree he was leaning on. "D-don't touch him!"

"You think I would listen to my worthless dear younger brother? Don't fool yourself; I will do whatever I wish."

Itachi, walked over the blonde, who was now on all fours and kicked him at his side, resulting in bloodying the grass even more. He was about to plunge his Katana into the dobe once more when he found himself unable to move.

"Good job, Shikamaru," came a voice from the trees to the back of Itachi.

Sasuke looked up in search of the owner of the voice. He turned his head to the side when he saw someone familiar walk into the light. The raven's face froze as he saw who it was.

It was Kakashi-sensei. He had his face expressionless as usual, but Sasuke was able to see the disgust and anger in his eye. In a flash Kakashi was beside the older Uchiha, a kunai at his neck, his hands behind his back.

"Why are you doing this? What are you after?" asked Kakashi in a menacing tone.

"Hn."

"You don't really have a choice of staying quiet; just spill," Kakashi tightened his grip on the older Uchiha when the latter tried to move.

"Don't think you can stop me." Itachi's voice drawled. He pushed his elbow into Kakashi's stomach, knocking the wind out of him." A simple Shadow Possession jutsu won't work so easily." Seconds later, the coughing Kakashi's had disappeared in a _pop_ of smoke and sent Itachi flying into the tree behind him.

"Seems even weakened Konoha shinobi give you a hard time; you've spent a lot of energy into capturing these two. What's your motive?"

While Kakashi tried to get some answers out of Itachi, Shikamaru walked out into the light, from out of the bushes where he had been performing his Shadow Possession jutsu. He went over to where Naruto was still huddled up in the pain from the poison spreading throughout his body.

The other ninja bent down and gave Naruto a pill, making sure he swallowed it. As soon as the blonde had it down his throat, he fell unconscious.

Picking up the dobe on the ground, Shikamaru walked over to where the raven was. "This is troublesome...Kiba said Akamaru heard the sound of your signal and informed the Hokage. Lucky for you we got here in time. Who knows what could have happened to you two."

He sighed and help Sasuke stand up. "I was told to get you two out of here as soon as possible, help is on the way, and I'm sure your sensei can handle Itachi for a while. C'mon, let's get Naruto to the hospital."

The raven hadn't really taken in what was going on; his head was spinning and all that his body was saying was to keep walking forward.

* * *

When the three had reached the hospital, Naruto was immediately sent to the emergency room where medical nin worked on taking care of his wounds and the poison he had been inflicted with.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was patched up and told to stay in bed. Shikamaru had left when Naruto finally came out of the emergency room, sleeping, but looking much better then when they had arrived.

Both Sasuke and Naruto were placed in the same room, so only one room would have to be guarded. There was still no sign of Kakashi or the other who had gone to fight Itachi. But then again, it had only been about two hours since the two had left the older Uchiha; it was nearing one o'clock in the afternoon.

The raven looked around the plain, white room, his eyes lying on the blonde, sleeping in his bed on the other side of the room, this time away from the window.

From the beginning he had suspected Itachi to be the one had been doing this, but he hadn't asked the blonde if it were true; afraid of the answer he's get. He had wanted the dobe to be the one to tell him, but when he had seen the Uchiha symbol across Naruto's chest, he knew the answer. It was one day at the hospital when the dobe had been changing his shirt. He didn't think that the raven would have been looking, but Sasuke had seen the mark clearly. His face had paled when he had realized the truth.

The raven felt guilt taking over his emotions; guilt for not being of any help, even when he had known. _I should have told Kakashi that night when I went to get my weapons. Damn! _

Still staring at the dobe, he felt a black hole open deep in his heart. He wanted so much to take care of him, and to help him and to make sure he wouldn't get hurt ever again. If it was love he left, or just some other alien feeling which had emerged from his emotions, he didn't really know.

Sasuke sighed, and looked down at his hands. They were covered in bandages, and they stung quite a bit. But the thought of what Naruto had been going through for so long, made it go away. _He has endured so much, and I feel pain from something as little as this...? _

Clenching his fists, he moved aside his covers and stepped down onto the cold tile floor. He stumbled out of the room, one step at a time, since his body was still aching from earlier that morning. He walked towards the exit of the hospital where saw Hinata walking towards his and Naruto's room.

She smiled when she noticed him. "Hello Sasuke. Um...aren't you still supposed to be in bed?"

"Hi. Yeah, I guess I am, but I need to talk the Hokage. You here to visit the dobe?" he asked her, smirking inwardly, though he couldn't help but feel a little jealous towards her.

"Oh, y-yes, I am." Hinata looked down at her feet as her face turned slightly red.

"He's still sleeping, but go on in," the raven moved aside and let her in, biting back the urge to say something that would annoy her. She went inside and started walking forward, this time with more ease since he was motivated by getting back in time to see if the blonde had woken up or not.

On his way out, he was stopped by Sakura who started yelling at him for being out of bed. "Sasuke, you know you shouldn't be out of bed." She said in more soft tone.

"Yeah, I know, but I need to talk to Lord Hokage. She needs to know what we're dealing with and Kakashi-sensei hasn't come back yet has he?"

The pink-haired nin hesitated for a bit, but then gave in. "I guess you're right. I'll help you, come on."

She took hold of his arm and used body like a human crutch to help the raven walk easier. They made their way slowly towards Tsunade's office. Sakura knocked on the door and stood aside with Sasuke, waiting for an answer.

"Come in," a voice answered on the other side of the door.

The raven pushed open the door and walked in, Sakura behind him. She closed the door and helped Sasuke sit down on the chair in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Sasuke! What happened? You should be in bed!"

"It was Itachi, he's been the one who's been doing all that to Naruto. He came after the dobe and I chased after him..." Sasuke explained to the two ladies what had just transpired.

When he finished, they were all quiet, thinking thoughts to themselves.

"Hn. So that's what was going on." Tsunade commented. She leaned forward on her chair, putting her elbows on the desk and sinking her head onto her hands.

"But the main question here is _why_!" Sakura exclaimed, looking at the other two questioningly. "What's there for him to hurt Naruto like that?"

"That's what Kakashi was trying to find out." Sasuke said. "By the way, who else did you send do help him?"

"I sent Shikamaru with him at first to get you two, and told Guy, Neiji, Kurenai and Asuma; the Jonin's. They should be able to get _some_ answer's out of him." Tsunade sighed.

"Yeah, Itachi was already kinda tired when we left."

After a few minutes of silence, there came a yawn from the Uchiha. He hadn't realized how tired he was. It as taking most of his effort for his body to heal itself, and he hadn't exactly had a good night's sleep the previous night either.

"You seem tired, go back to bed and get some rest." said the Hokage in response to his yawn.

"No, first, what's going to happen to Naruto? Are you sure he'll be safe?" Sasuke demanded sitting on the edge of his chair.

"I've already placed some black Anbu ninjas around your room and around the hospital, even more around the village. And as soon as Kakashi and his team come back, they'll be on guard too. We won't have to worry about Itachi trying to sneak in."

"Hn." the raven tried to stifle another yawn he felt coming on."

"Come on Sasuke, we should get back to the hospital and see if Naruto woke up yet."

"Yeah, I guess we should." he replied. Sakura walked over and was about to help him get up when the doors to the office flew open.

"H-he got away...again," Kakashi barged in, panting, Neiji, Asuma and Kurenai were following.

* * *

**Okay...that's that.**

**Again, sorry for any delays, hope you liked it. I promise more romance in the next chap.Think it was a bit OOC? Let me know please!**

**Please review. Thanks.**


	9. Night's Embrace

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Or Sasuke. Or Sakura. Or Shikamaru. Or Gaara. Or Orochimaru. Or Itachi. Or Choji. Or Kakashi. Or Ino. Or Neiji. Or Hinata. Or Iruka. Or Tsunade. Or Jiraya. Or Tenten. Or Lee. Or Kiba. Or any one else that I may have missed. Sorry if I did, it's very late at night right now.**

* * *

Hinata walked into Naruto's room again, two days later, walking slowly and silently to make sure he wouldn't wake up. She placed the flowers she had brought on his bedside table and sat down on the chair next to his bed. She winced when she saw his condition.

The blonde was covered in quite a few bandages, but was sleeping peacefully. He had some tubes attached to him, which were connected to some machines, helping to keep his condition stable.

Looking around, she found that other people had also come in to see both Naruto and Sasuke; there were some get well soon cards and other flowers as well.

She smiled lightly as she thought about how things had been in the past with her and Naruto; she had had a huge crush on him back then during the Chunin exams, and she still did; blushing every time his name came up between conversations. He had never noticed anything back then, being, as Sasuke would say, the "dobe" he was, and he still didn't.

Hinata was sure that nearly everyone knew now, about her feeling for him, besides the blonde himself. She thought about telling him quite a few times, but never did; they had become good friends, and she didn't want to ruin their friendship incase anything went wrong.

It hurt seeing the blonde in his condition; she deeply regretted the fact that she hadn't noticed anything unusual about him earlier.

She closed her eyes, remembering instances in the past few months when she and Naruto had met. She hadn't noticed anything back then. But thinking back now, she recalled many instances where he had winced because of something and when asked what had happened, he'd just smile and say everything was fine.

"Urg."

Hinata snapped her eyes open and was by the blonde's side in seconds. He seemed to have come to and was trying to get up.

"Naruto? Stay down, you're still unwell."

He had opened his eyes and tried to sit up, a little delusional, but Hinata tried to push him gently back down, before he ended up straining himself too much.

"Hinata? Urg...I'm at the hospital again, aren't I?" he grumbled, ruffling his hair and wincing, but finally lying down on the bed. He could feel that most of his wounds had closed up, and that Kyuubi had helped to try and heal most of the bruises. Everything still hurt, though, but he felt much better than he did when he had fought Itachi.

"Y-Yes, you and Sasuke were gravely injured buy the time you came back, a-and so I came to visit you," she replied, a small blush on her face.

"S-Sasuke? Where is he? Is he alright?" he looked around the room, noticing that the bed next to his was empty. He saw the machines that were placed around the bed and figured that the raven must have been as injured as he was as well.

"Sasuke said he wanted to talk to the Lady Hokage. He didn't look too well, but the doctors said he'll be fine, s-so don't worry," she said with a smile.

The blonde felt his face go blank as a surge of guilt welled up inside of him. A silence fell between the two of them.

"N-Naruto? What's wrong?" Hinata asked, concerned. "Do you need something?"

The blonde shook his head and smiled, despite the despair he felt inside.

"Don't worry Hinata, I was just thinking about what's happened in the past few weeks," he chuckled, a grin spreading across his face. "Anyways, how long was I out; I'm starving!"

Hinata smiled in return at his comment and turned towards her bag which she had put beside her. "Umm, you came back last week, and s-since then, y-you've been unconscious. W-when I had come before, the doctors had t-told me that y-you would have regained consciousness by now, so I-I brought your favorite ramen!"

She held out the carton of Ichiraku's ramen noodles, blushing, and passed it to the blonde.

He had a huge smile on his face, but she could tell that he was just trying to cover-up for how he felt inside. He sat up slowly and as he did, his stomach growled in repose; it was no surprise he felt so weak. It hurt to sit properly, but he did anyway when his nose met the smell of his favorite food.

"So, how long was Sasuke out for? Not as long as me, right?" the blonde opened up his carton and split his chopsticks, stuffing ramen into his mouth.

"H-he came to about two day's ago." she replied, looking down at her hands.

"Oh, I see." He felt even worse now, hearing that the raven, too, had been knocked out for such a long time.

The two didn't talk much as the blonde kept eating. He was lost in his own thoughts, cursing at himself because of his weakness. He felt vulnerable and insignificant, just as Itachi kept telling him. Now he realized it was true; how could he have let Sasuke get hurt?

"N-Naruto? What's wrong?" Hinata finally asked him, knowing there was something bothering him.

"Uh, nothing really, nope. Just thinking again, heh heh," he pulled up his smiling mask again which he always seemed to wear. He had grown so accustomed to keeping it on, building a shell around him to keep his emotions in check.

Hinata knew that he always tried to stay happy for his friends and that he just wanted to protect them, especially with everything that had been going on with Itachi, but now, if he didn't open up to someone, _anyone_, then he would be hurt in the future.

"I-I don't think so, Naruto. Please, t-tell me what's bothering you," she said kindly, positive that he was lying just to make her feel better.

Naruto looked at her, his mask almost slipping for a split second, but then grinned, bouncing right back, scratching the back of his head. "C'mon, what makes you think that? I'm fine, don't worry!"

Hinata sighed inwardly and gazed out the window. She had to find some way of getting him to open up.

"Say, Hinata, do you know when Sasuke'll be back?" he asked, trying to take the topic away from himself.

"I-I'm not sure, h-he didn't say," she replied, looking down at her hands again.

"Oh, okay, well, can you help me get closer to the window? I'd like to take a better look outside," he pushed his blanket away and tried to turn so that he could bring his feet down. He winced when he felt pain attack him from his side. Hinata had rushed to his side and put an arm on his shoulder.

"N-Naruto, you're not w-well enough to stand yet," she told him, concerned. "p-please, stay in bed. D-don't hurt y-yourself anymore."

"That's right Naruto, you're supposed to stay in bed, at least until the doctors have made sure you're okay."

The two heard a familiar voice near the doorway and turned to look at who it was. Sakura had come back and was now walking towards the blonde.

"Sakura! Hey, how's it going?" Naruto said, deliberately being cheeky. He lay back down in bed and had a huge grin across his face.

The pink-haired girl sighed at his greeting and motioned for Hinata to sit back down so she could run some tests. "You know Naruto, from all the time I've spent helping people here at the hospital, you're the first with so much energy when they wake up."

"Yeah, well, that's me!" he tried to laugh, but stopped immediately when his body started hurting again. He refrained from saying anything, but Sakura knew how much it was hurting him. She had been devastated when he had been brought into the hospital.

All three of them stayed silent while Sakura was running the tests. She noticed the empty ramen carton at the side of his bed, in the garbage can. She frowned at it, but didn't say anything; patients weren't usually allowed to eat things like ramen right after they woke up, but since he already eaten, she couldn't say anything.

"S-So, when's Sasuke coming back?" the blonde spoke up after the tests were done, trying not to get Hinata in trouble for bringing ramen.

She stiffened slightly, but answered his question nonetheless, "He was still talking to the Hokage when I left to come check up on you, but he should be back soon enough; he'll be happy to know that you've finally woken up."

She had a light smile on her face, but stayed quiet, not wanting to talk about the bad news she had heard from Kakashi. She didn't want to tell the blonde - not yet, at least.

"Hmmmm, so how long will I have to stay here like this? It gets boring at the hospital, you know." the blonde joked around, trying to get a conversation rolling so that his thoughts wouldn't lead back to where they were.

"Well, it's your fault for not telling anyone, you know! We could have helped you, and you wouldn't be here like this. Staying quiet didn't help at all, did it?" Sakura cried out, almost yelling, with tears forming in her worried eyes. "How could you not have trusted us?"

A long silence followed; Sakura breathing hard, trying to calm herself; Hinata and Naruto both deep in thought.

"I'm sorry, guys; I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that Naruto. We're all just trying to help." she apologized and turned around, heading for the door.

Before she reached the door, Naruto spoke up, "I'm sorry; I didn't want to hurt any of my friends with my problems. Thank you." He hadn't meant to be bitter, but it was the truth.

The pink-haired nin paused for a minute, but then continued out the door, leaving Hinata and the dobe alone again.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, not sure what to say.

The blonde looked at Hinata out of the corner of his eyes and watched her stand up some time later. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I have to go now; I promised my father I wouldn't take too long," she smiled. "I'll come back tomorrow. Bye."

Naruto frowned inside, even though a grin was plastered on his face. "Okay, see you later."

With that, she left, closing the door behind her. The blonde slumped back onto the bed, his forehead creasing as he frowned. He lay on his back and felt his body pulsing from the dull pain. He was lucky he had Kyuubi to help him heal, or else that dull pain wouldn't have been so dull.

* * *

\/p

(MEANWHILE)

* * *

\/p

Sasuke was on his way back to his room at the hospital. Tsunade, Kakashi, Neiji, Asuma, Kurenai and himself had just finished discussing what had gone on with the battle. It was two days ago that he had heard the news, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. He had gone again today to talk to them about what to do next. Itachi had gotten away again, but they had managed to give him several wounds, and he was severely injured.

Since they, too, were injured, but also tired, they weren't able to chase after him for long. So, Lady Tsunade had sent some other ninjas to look for any sign or clue that may lead to his whereabouts. It was crazy to know that five of Konoha's best ninja's were unable to capture him, thought it was comforting to know that he was at least weakened.

The news was disappointing, and Sasuke was now fuming in anger. He felt angry at himself for not being strong enough to have defeated him earlier on. At least he could have ensured that Naruto would no longer be bothered by him anymore. But, now, there was still the risk of the blonde being attacked or captured by the older Uchiha at any time.

Thinking of the blonde made his anger even more dangerous; people would be safer to stay away from the Uchiha at times like that. He was angry at the blonde for staying quiet, for not telling anyone; how could he not tell anyone?

He sighed as he entered the hospital. His feet led the way towards his room, while he was deep in thought, fuming over the current situation. He partially blamed himself for his own weakness and for being so dense for not finding out about him any earlier.

He reached the third floor, where his and the blonde's room was located and nearly bumped into Hinata when he turned a corner.

She smiled a small smile at him, acknowledging him and said "I-I'm glad you're back. N-Naruto is awake now, a-and he was asking for y-you. He'll be g-glad to know you're back."

Sasuke nodded, and continued to walk, passing her as he went. She, too, left for her way home.

Despite himself, the Uchiha could feel a small spread across his lips as he walked the remaining steps and entered his and Naruto's room.

He opened the door very slightly and peeked inside, incase Itachi and the dobe were talking, he could eavesdrop on their conversation, and, also, he just wanted to make sure how the blonde was doing before he stepped in.

He opened the door all the way, and the creaking of its hinges made Naruto turn his head towards the door. He was lying on his back on the bed, and had been quietly looking out the window, a serene expression on his face.

"Finally awake, eh? How're you feeling?" Sasuke walked inside, closing the door behind him. He sat down beside the blonde, on the chair Hinata had occupied.

"Heh, I'm fine! Kyuubi helped heal most of everything, so I'm almost _all_ better." He grinned at the raven, who remained expressionless. He sat up again, putting his pillow up behind him.

"Hn." he smirked at the dobe's reply. "Tell me what's been going on; I know who's behind it, but why? When did this all start?"

Naruto looked away, trying not to catch the other's eye. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak, but he just didn't know what to say. He didn't know the reason why Itachi was behind, except perhaps to torture him for the fun of it, and when did it really start? He knew it was around three years ago, but if he told Sasuke he was afraid of the looks of anger and disappointment he would get.

The blonde looked down at his hands and said simply, "I don't know."

"'I don't know' won't do, dobe. I want to know how all this started. You need to talk. We all know you need help, but it would be better for us if you could tell us the reasons that-" he could a deep breath to calm him down. "-Itachi would go after you."

The raven stood up and started pacing the room, thinking, and waiting for the blonde to start talking.

He took a few deep breaths to calm down his anger and worry. "Well, okay, it seems to me like you _can't_ talk about it, is that right?" He paused and looked at the other.

Naruto didn't look at him, afraid of getting lost in those deep, dark eyes. Instead, he turned his head slightly towards the window and gave the slightest nod. He was afraid of what would happen, afraid of the consequences if Itachi wasn't defeated. Would the older Uchiha really kill all of those he loved? He knew the answer, and therefore didn't want to say any more than he had to.

Sasuke caught the slight movement of his head and sighed to himself. He continued pacing, trying to come up with some way of convincing the blonde to talk. He couldn't say anything; that obviously meant he was blackmailing him. _Damn!_

After a long moment silence between the two, Naruto lay back down on the bed. Sasuke watched from the corner of his eyes as the blonde pulled up the covers, knowing he would pretend to go to sleep.

He continued to walk around the room anyway, seeing how the blonde would react to his reluctance to stop.

* * *

\/p

After a while the raven had gotten tired of the walking; his body was still weak, and so he had walked over to his bed and lay down to get some rest.

They had gotten up when Sakura had come in with dinner and completed a few more tests. They hadn't said much to each other and had thanked Sakura for seeing to them. After that, both had just gone back to sleep, or at least tried to.

It was nearing midnight and both were wide awake, though both of them thought the other was asleep. Naruto had been sobbing quietly for a while now and Sasuke kept wondering if he should ask what was wrong. He was afraid of hurting the blonde any more than he already was and wasn't sure if the dobe would want to be disturbed.

After a while, the blonde gingerly got up, still sobbing. He was shaking slightly from trying to keep his emotions under control. He hated this. He absolutely hated it.

He hated the fact that he was so weak against Itachi to even defend himself from him.

He hated that he couldn't tell his friends.

He hated how his friends were at the constant risk of getting hurt if they found out anything besides what Itachi had said.

Still sobbing, his face streaked with unwanted tears, he walked towards the door and stepped out, closing it behind him. He wiped his face and made his way towards the bathroom.

The quietly watched as the blonde left the room, shaking when he tried to keep his sobs to himself. He grimaced._ If he's not back in five, I'm going after him._

He washed his face and took some breaths to calm his persistent tears. He couldn't. He just wanted to end it all; end it so he wouldn't have to worry any more; end it so Itachi would stop; end it so the pain would go away.

He leaned against the wall, and silently crouched down, clutching himself. The blonde hair was all that was visible when he buried his face in his knees and continued to sob.

He couldn't take it anymore; over the last couple of years he had isolated himself from all his friends, built a wall between them. It was so hard now to look at them and see the worry and concern in their eyes, knowing it was his entire fault.

He heard the door open, footsteps walking towards him. He knew it would be Itachi, so he didn't bother looking up. Instead, he mentally prepared himself for the pain to come, his body stiffening.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he involuntarily moved back, but so did the hand. He looked up in confusion, wondering as to why Itachi would also move away.

He looked up at the raven colored hair and the pale face, with it's stone-hard expression. But, no blood-hungry scarlet eyes. The eyes were black, and he felt like he could just fall into them and be lost forever.

He realized that it was the younger Uchiha who had come, not the elder. The Uchiha he loved so dearly. The Uchiha who was his best friend; his best rival. He sobbed even harder now, burying his face in his knees again, hiding his face from the other.

"Naruto, look at me, please." The voice was gentle and patient, nothing at all like it's older brother. He had crouched down beside him and now their eyes were at level with each other.

Reluctantly, the blonde looked up, meeting the eyes of the raven once again.

"Naruto," he said again. "Tell me what's wrong, tell me what happened and how it all started; tell me what he's after." He wrapped his arms around him and held him tight, unsure of what else to do. "I promise no one will hurt you; that _I_ won't hurt you either. Please." he smiled.

Looking into those eyes and feeling his arms around him made him crumble. He began to tell the raven of the first encounter those three years back, tears falling silently. He told him about how Itachi had come to him nearly every night and how some nights were worse than others; about how he had been completely defenseless against him. He told him everything. Everything except how he felt towards him, how he wished he would hold him like this forever; never leaving him.

"You mean, he said he would hurt one of us if you ever said anything?" Sasuke asked, his anger starting to boil once again. He knew how the blonde would do anything to protect those he loved, so his friends were the perfect target to hold against him.

Naruto nodded and turned away, knowing the thoughts that were going through the other ninja's head. Oddly, the grip around him got tighter and he looked back up the raven, curiosity showing on his face.

"Naruto, dobe, I'm glad you told me. Now, I think I know how we can defeat him." he looked down at the blonde and his now puffy, red eyes and smiled. He wanted to stay like this, holding him and protecting him. He shifted a little so he could get up, but felt the dobe's hands gripping his shirt tightly, holding him back.

"Don't go yet; stay with me." he whispered.

And so Sasuke stayed, his arms in a tight lock around the Kyuubi holder, his head leaning on his chest. As much as Sasuke felt like telling the blonde how he felt, he didn't want to ruin their friendship; they had such a strong bond between them, he didn't want to disturb it.

"You know Naruto, everyone loves you, they all love seeing you smile and having fun and being the dobe you are. You brighten everyone's day and that's what makes us worry about you." he didn't really know what he was saying, but somehow, for some reason, the words just came out of his mouth, by themselves.

The blonde looked up to face the Uchiha. "You too?"

Immediately, his face turned red and looked back down, curling up even more.

Sasuke smirked at how cute he was being right now. "Yeah, dobe, me too."

A few seconds later, realization hit the blonde as he took in what the other had just said. He slowly lifted his face up, staring into those deep, dark eyes once again.

"Naruto. I love you..." he felt a blush creep up his face and felt his cheeks burn. _Damn, now he's going to run away, what the hell did I just get myself into!_

"S-Sasuke, do you really mean it?" his eyes were wide open, questioning the Uchiha. Was this really true? Was this really happening?

"Y-Yes, I do, and I understand if you don't feel the same -" he was stopped mid sentence as he felt the blonde's lips on his own. He closed his eyes, taking in the feel of him.

Naruto broke the kiss, looking at the raven with his blue orbs. "I love you, too, Sasuke. I've loved you for so long, and I always thought that you wouldn't love me back, that you would be disgusted."

"Never, dobe, I love you." he leaned in towards the blonde, capturing his lips and kissing him passionately. A had an arm around the blonde, and pulled him in closer, embracing him lovingly. Naruto moaned despite himself and ran his hand through the raven's hair; they were in a very awkward position now.

They pulled apart after a few minutes and Sasuke pulled the blonde into a warm hug. He then got up and helped the dobe stand up as well. Slinking his arm around his waist, keeping him safe, he led the way towards their room.

Just as they entered, closing the door behind them, they heard a shrill scream of terror arise from somewhere in the village. They both looked at each other and cautiously headed over to the window to see if they could see anything in the dead of the night.

Both ninjas were positive the scream had belonged to a female. Naruto was horrified and told Sasuke that he suspected Itachi to be behind it.

"No, I doubt it, even Itachi isn't strong enough to dare enter the village after the battle we had with him." he raised his hand up higher to stroke the disheveled blonde locks of his new love.

The question running through their minds was the same; who just screamed? Was Itachi behind it all?

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**Hey guys, hope you liked it. Wasn't too OOC, was it? I've always pictured Sasuke to be slightly romantic, and that's how I made him (right?) **

**It's finally SasuNaru now, eh? It'll get better in the next chapter, I promise! **

**Sorry for the cheesy kinda ending, but I had to add that last bit in there. I have this thing about cliffhangers...yeah...**

**REVIEW PLEASE**


	10. Night's Glow

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, but I hope to get Shikamaru very soon.**

**Oh yeah, by the way, this chapter is now officially dedicated to my friend "Sakura" since she finally found the love of her life (at least I think so)**

**Please review and let me know what to think; at the end of the previous chapter I was considering dropping the fic and starting a new one, so let me know what you think. **

**ENJOY**

It was late afternoon, the day after the blonde and raven had heard that blood-curling scream. When the ANBU Black Ops ninjas had reached the place where the commotion had occurred, they had found the body an unconscious woman lying on the ground in front of her house.

Naruto and Sasuke had been informed that Hinata had been brought to the hospital immediately. Apparently, Itachi had taken refuge in the closest empty house that he could find. When Lady Hinata had walked in, she realized this and had tried to take on the Uchiha by herself.

She had up a good fight, it was clear, but she had to go through several traps, which, in the end, rendered her unconscious after the wanted Uchiha had given her a sample of his Mangekyou Sharingan with the last of his remaining chakra.

The two ninjas were assured that she would be fine after she was treated and had some rest, but no one was allowed to visit her due to the chances at another ambush happening.

Now, both the blonde and the raven were sitting side by side on a bed, looking out the window and contemplating what to do next; they were forbidden to leave the room without the permission of the Lady Hokage and were to be accompanied by an ANBU member to go to the bathroom.

They weren't bothered much, only the occasional check up by a medical or by whoever brought them their meals. It was as though they were in a prison, but it was a safe prison where their "capturers" were only looking out for them.

Sasuke gingerly put his hand over the dobe's and gripped it reassuringly. He didn't want to see the blonde in any more distress and knew exactly what was going through his thick skull. Sasuke was almost positive that the blonde blamed himself over what happened to Hinata.

"Naruto..." he said.

No response.

"Naruto," he tried again.

No response.

"Dobe! Can you hear me?" he called, waving his other hand in front of the blonde's face, and gripping his hand tightly.

Naruto looked up and turned his to face the worried raven.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Sasuke, were you talking to me? I was just thinking..." he grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

Sasuke looked at the blonde, seeing right through the wall he had built up.

"Naruto..."

"Yeah, what is it?" the blonde asked, looking out the window, and leaning on Sasuke's arm slightly.

"Naruto, what's wrong? What's on your mind?" he decided he'd just be straight up and ask him, he knew if he tried some other tactic, the blonde would find a way to answer his questions by going around the fence.

The blonde looked down at his feet, trying to think of what to say. "Uh...well, with everything that happened with Hinata...a-and Itachi..." he took a deep breath and looked down at the side of the room.

Sasuke knew he was trying to avoid eye contact, that he didn't really want to say anything.

"Dobe, it's not your fault; none of this is any of your fault. Stop beating youself up over this." he took his hand away and put around the blonde, holding him closer to himself and stroking his hair. "You don't have to worry anymore, we're all here trying to help you; we're all trying to protect you."

"Yeah, I know that, but - but, if it hurts any of you in any way, then I'll never forgive myself," he whispered, more to himself rather than Sasuke. "Hinata's already hurt, and that's just because of where her house is located, what would happen to you or Sakura or everyone else when you try to help?"

_He'll kill you...he'll kill you all, I know it, I'm sure of it, then after that, he'll kill me, too_, the blonde thought to himself. He felt a chill down his spine just as he thought about it.

Sasuke felt the blonde tense up and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. He let go of the blonde and stood up to open the door since it was locked from the inside.

"Thank you, hope you two are doing well," the figure came inside of her own accord, without being invited to come in. "Naruto, Sasuke, I've set up another place for you two to stay; being here any longer will make you an easy target for that bastard Itachi."

She had her hands on her hips as she took in the blandness of the room.

"Hokage-sama, where will we be staying?" the raven god right down to the point, not wanting to talk about any other less vital things.

The older blonde tucked her hair behind her hair and glared at the two of them. "I can't tell you. You see, we're going to blindfold the two of you and take you there. This way, if Itachi happens to find the _other_ entrance to the place, he can't force you to find the right exit, because there's only one way out, which you won't know about." She had a slight edge to her voice, as though she was really annoyed about having to explain everything. "I'm having several of the ANBU black-ops team members keeping guard there, and a lot of the rest of them are out looking for him in the village and near the borders."

Seeing the blank expression on Naruto's face she add, "I'm sorry, that's the only plan we've got. You'll be safe there, I promise, and most likely, if all goes well, you'll be able to lure Itachi out for us to capture incase we don't find him before that."

She glanced around the room once then headed for the door. "I'll be back in five minutes, be ready to leave."

She closed the door behind her and left, leaving the two ninjas to their thoughts. It hurt her to have to be so distant from them, but she had to; showing any signs of genuine concern for the two might lead the older Uchiha to targeting her for information.

Sasuke turned to Naruto with a slightly confused look on his face saying _what was that all about?_

Sighing, the blonde stood up and walked to stand beside the raven. "I guess we better 'get ready', huh? I-I hope everything will work out..."

Sasuke nodded and started gathering the weapons he had hid around the room. Besides that, there wasn't much to take with them; everything else pretty much belonged to the hospital.

Naruto gathered the few belongings he had, and sat down on a bed, this time facing the door. He wasn't sure whether he really wanted to go to this new place or not; it sounded as though they would be put in a type of special jail cell, and he didn't like that. Sure, he and Sasuke would have a lot of privacy, but from the way Tsunade had talked about it, it was like they were setting up a trap for Itachi, meaning he and Sasuke were the bait.

The raven sat down beside him, holding his things in his arms, waiting for Tsunade to come and take them away.

The blonde told the raven of his feeling towards the Hokage's plan; that he didn't like it much.

"I don't either; not knowing where we'll be, and being guarded by the ANBU black-ops like that seems as though she's trying to keep us away from the village so no one will get hurt." _And it also seems like she's blaming us for all this. _

There was a small knock on the door, and then Tsunade walked in, with two ANBU members behind her, both carrying blindfolds.

The raven and blonde stood up when the door opened. Naruto tensed a little as the ninjas walked over to them and took their belongings. Tsunade explained that it would take approximately half an hour for them to reach their destination; they had to take the longer root to avoid being seen.

Sasuke was the first to put the blindfold on, trying to reassure Naruto that everything would be all right. When the blonde was sure of himself, he let the ANBU member blindfold him as well. They both had their guard up, not entirely willing to go along with the plan, but doing so anyway since they had no choice in the matter.

Their route consisted of several twists and turns. Naruto had lost track of the directions when they were about halfway there, and Sasuke thought he had forgotten some turns somewhere in between.

The blonde noticed how the Hokage didn't seem to be talking much, that she seemed much more distant than she usually was. _The stress of all this is probably getting to her_, he thought frowning.

They had to climb several staircases, where the blonde nearly tripped and fell over. Luckily for him, he didn't. Unknown to them was that they were climbing along the edge of a cliff. Ten minutes after they climbed the stairs, Tsunade led them into their new place and left them alone with the two black ops members who removed their blindfolds.

It took them a while for their eyes to adjust to the light, but when they did, they found that they were in a small, dimly lit room furnished with a couch, table and chairs, and a small television, sitting on a stand.

Naruto turned towards the ANBU member, prepared to ask them the question that were popping up in his head. But before he could say anything, they held out a hand telling him to keep quiet and spoke, "We have done our duty and will now keep guard outside. You are to stay here until further notice."

With that, they disappeared in a puff of smoke and a small pop.

"They were just shadow clones. The real them must be standing outside." Sasuke muttered as he walked around the room.

There were no windows, and the only source for light was a few light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The blonde followed the raven as he went out through the only door leading out of the room.

They came to a small hallway with four doors, two on each side. Sasuke opened the first one on the left. He turned the light on and they found themselves in a kitchen, connected to the living room with a light curtain. Curious, Naruto went through the cupboards and the fridge and found that everything was packed with food, there was even some instant ramen bowls.

Next, they went to the room right across from the kitchen and found a room that was completely bare except for a shelf with books and a chair. Sasuke walked in, turning on the lights, and briefly glancing at the various books placed on the bookshelf. They were all about ninja training and meditation. Smirking, he turned around to head back towards the door. He paused and noticed a closet door on the opposite wall.

He motioned to the blonde who walked over to see what he was looking at. Sasuke went over and opened the door.

"Whoa!" the blonde replied when he saw what was inside. The whole closet was full of ninja weapons and training materials.

"Hn, I guess this so we can train. Good idea, incase that _bastard_ comes after you again." he said tonelessly, only emphasizing the word 'bastard'.

The other two rooms they found were a bedroom and a bathroom. The bedroom, they both noticed, only had one bed, big enough for the both of them. The bathroom was pretty big, too, and full of the daily necessities.

All in all, it was basically like an apartment flat, without any windows or neighbors.

Sighing, the two of them went back to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Sasuke?"

"Hm? What is it?"

Naruto sat up properly, pulling his knees to his chest, burying his face in them, and curling up like a ball on the corner of the couch.

"I..I'm kinda scared..." he whispered, not exactly wanting Sasuke to hear.

The raven looked up at the blonde. He hated seeing him in that condition, it hurt. He moved over to the blonde and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Naruto, please. Don't worry. Everything will be fine, Hokage-sama's doing her best, Itachi won't hurt you, I promise." he gently pulled the blonde onto his lap and took hold of chin, turning his head to look him in the eye. "Don't worry, don't be scared, I'm right here."

He didn't see any tears and he was thankful for that. He knew the blonde had suffered a bad childhood, and had to go through all of the nights with Itachi, that he was very confused and scared because of all of what was happening to him.

He heard a growl from the dobe's stomach and smiled slightly. Getting up, slowly stroking the blonde hair, he said, "I'm hungry, you want some ramen?"

There was no response from the blonde, but the raven got his answer, and went towards the kitchen. He took out one bowl of instant ramen and starting preparing it. Feeling hungry himself, he took out a can of soup and warmed it up.

He returned to the living room where the blonde was in the same position as when he had left. He sighed inwardly, to himself, and put the soup and ramen on the table.

"Naruto, I got your ramen, come and eat," he said softly, waiting for the dobe to walk over to him. He didn't that just asking would work; he knew he'd have to go over and try to persuade him. Truthfully, the whole idea of staying in their current place didn't suit him well, and he just wanted to back to the village again.

Surprisingly, the blonde slowly lifted his head up, turning his head to look at the raven, and blinked. Sighing, he got up and dragged his feet over to where the other was standing.

He took his seat across from the raven and silently took his bowl of ramen and starting eating. He avoided looking straight into the endless dark eyes of his partner in front of him. He was determined to look anywhere except for those eyes. He didn't want to show his weakness and extreme discomfort for their current situation. He knew Lady Tsunade was trying her best and that Sasuke would help him through all this, but if he accepted their help completely, they could pose as a target to Itachi, just as Hinata had been.

Sasuke knew the dobe was trying to avoid eye contact. He smirked, looking down at his soup and moved his legs to lightly touch Naruto's. He saw the blonde tense up a bit, caught off guard, but back to normal in seconds. Sasuke rubbed his leg against the blonde's, trying to get him to say something.

If he even got a angry shout or a whine or anything from him, he's be content. The silence between the two was killing him. He wanted so much to hug him and kiss him and spend time with him. It was odd to have Konoha's biggest loudmouth be so quiet.

But then, he didn't really know if Naruto was always this quiet or not, he'd usually only seen him during missions being the dobe that everyone perceived him to be. _He must be used to having no one to talk to at home..._

Suppressing a sigh, he continued rubbing his foot against the blonde's. This time, the dobe moved his foot back, away from the raven's reach. At this, the raven pouted, something an Uchiha would never normally do.

Seeing him the corner of his eyes, the blonde looked to face Sasuke, freezing for a moment and broke into laughter.

"Oh wow, Sasuke ha ha ha you look hilarious, I never knew you ha ha ha you could have an expression like that ha ha ha..."

Surprised by the blonde's reaction, it took a moment for Sasuke to realize what was going on. When he did, he smiled and let out a small laugh in response to the blonde's burst of laughter.

The blonde doubled over in laughter, putting his head on the table.

Sasuke used this opportunity to lean over the table to hold the blonde's face. The dobe froze for a moment. The distance between the two slowly disappeared as their lips met in a sweet embrace.

He could taste the ramen on the blonde's lips and nibbled on them. Naruto gasped, giving Sasuke the perfect opportunity to slide his in his tongue, beginning to explore Naruto's sweet crevasses.

The raven put his elbows on the table, holding the Naruto's chin with one hand and ruffling the blonde locks with the other.

Naruto moaned and slipped a hand around Sasuke's neck, grabbing hold of his shirt.

Sasuke felt the blonde's tongue enter inside his mouth and let slip a moan despite his efforts to suppress it. He could feel Naruto's hand holding the back of his shirt, taking in every moment of their passionate kiss.

Reluctantly letting go for air, Sasuke slowly leaned back to look at Naruto who was slightly out of breath. Putting a hand on the side of his face, he leaned in again, stopping when was a hair's breadth away and kissed him on the forehead.

Naruto shivered at the touch of the raven lips, and smiled. He reached to hold the raven's hand and leaned in towards his ear.

"Aishiteru, Sasuke..."

* * *

They woke up the next morning, entangled in bed sheets, to the sound of Naruto's stomach growling.

"Mmm...urgg...damn it...sorry Sasuke. Keep sleeping, I'll go make breakfast..." the blonde said sleepily as he tried to untangle himself from the bed sheets.

Before the dobe could get up, however, Sasuke grabbed the back of his nightshirt and pulled him close, smirking. "You're not going anywhere, dobe."

"Awww, but Sasuke, I'm hungry!" he pouted.

"But I'm not."

"Then at least let me--" he got cut off suddenly as the raven gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"All right, but let me make breakfast." he got up swiftly from their bed and went over to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Naruto lay back down in bed, his stomach growling again. It was nice to able to be with Sasuke so freely and to have him all to himself. He liked it. Mainly because he liked Sasuke. The raven was the only reason he agreed to stay in this place. If it weren't for him, he would have tried to break out by now.

It was pretty creepy, being in a place with no windows and no exits leading to the outside world. How would have to stay in there? How long until Itachi was caught? Or, rather, how long until Itachi caught _them_?

The very though of Itachi finding them in a place so isolated sent shivers down his spine and he pulled the bed covers over himself, thinking about the possibilities.

He heard Sasuke head towards the kitchen. Jumping out of bed, he went after the Uchiha.

"Sasuke..." he called when he entered the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"After breakfast, let's train together." the blonde walked over to the counter and leaned back on it, tilting his head up. He felt nostalgic, remembering his and Sasuke's training sessions from when they were young. He smiled.

"If you want to, sure." he said simply. "Want scrambled eggs?"

"Yeah! You're making me even more hungry, Sasuke." he ruffled his hair.

"Hn."

The blonde soon left Sasuke to brush his teeth and freshen up.

By the time he came back, the raven was done, waiting for him silently at the table. As the blonde sat down, another growl came from his stomach.

"Heh heh...didn't know I was so hungry." he said happily.

Both of them ate their meal in silence; Naruto thinking about life without Itachi and Sasuke running his eyes up and down the blonde's toned and muscular body.

Once they had finished eating they cleaned up and walked over to the training room. It wasn't very big, they wouldn't be able to practice many justsu's but it was an ideal amount of space for them to spar.

The raven opened the weapon's closet and pulled out a few kunai and a blunt Katana he found at the back. The blonde took some kunai's for himself along with shuriken throwing stars and a blunt Katana blade as well.

They both walked over to the centre of the room and stood facing each other, armed with either a katana or kunai blades. Sasuke didn't feel the need to activate his sharingan at a time like this; he didn't want to waste any chakra and he felt the need to get used to fighting out the help of his sharingan incase he found himself in a situation disabling him from using it.

The blonde attacked first, aiming for the raven's upper arm and shoulder. He was easily blocked, though, and was almost hit at side before he managed to avoid it. Flipping to his right so he was standing behind the Uchiha, he aimed to strike at the raven's shoulder again. Before he could reach, however, Sasuke had vanished, reappearing near the blonde's feet, nearly tripping the blonde when he stuck out his foot.

Jumping up to stand straight again, Sasuke curled his fist into a ball, about to strike at the blonde's chest. Naruto, caught off guard from the near-fall, doubled over slightly when the raven's fist made contact. Smirking, the raven stood upright again.

His victorious smile vanished in a moment when Naruto disappeared in puff of smoke and reappeared behind him, striking him at his side with the katana.

The two continued to spar for the rest of the morning, taking several five-minute breaks to catch their breath. It was amusing to see how much the other had learned since when they had fought as kids. Naruto felt the most pleased to be able to spar with the raven freely without having to worry about any of his wounds reopening again. It was a great relief for the both of them.

Once they had finished sparring, they ate lunch and sat down to relax a bit afterwards. The raven went back to the training room to meditate for a while and the raven went to their room to take a nap. He was quite exhausted from their spar and his wounds were still healing. It was no wonder he had felt so hungry when he had woken up in the morning; his body was still getting used to the new physical activates with out Itachi.

Like this, they spent their days, waking up moderately early in the morning, having breakfast, sparring, then meditating in the afternoon. They would sometimes get lazy and just sit on the couch and talk or play around.

But, of course, they both new it wouldn't be like this for much longer; it was only a matter of time before Itachi was captured or showed up in front of them to continue with his plans. The latter was much more likely given that the village ninja's still hadn't managed to capture Itachi.

Then again, they didn't know for sure if he was captured or not, no one had come in to tell them anything; it had only been those two together, no interruptions. Sasuke had a great regret for accepting to come to this place, it might have just been a trap to keep them there, so Itachi wouldn't have to go after the village.

Naruto refused to let his mind wander and think about what, if there even was, was the real reason for Lady Tsunade to have brought them here.

Obviously it wouldn't be to get rid of them, right?

* * *

**Hope you liked it. Next chap gets better...I think ha ha, you'll have to read to find out ;)**

**THANK YOU FOR READING**

**REVIEW PLEASE **

* * *


	11. Night's Discovery

**Finally!**

**That took soooooo long everyone, Gomenasai...**

**ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Sasuke or any of the rest of the characters...If I did...well, you don't want to know. XD**

* * *

It was early morning; the sun was just over the horizon. All of Konoha was asleep. Well, not all. The few who were awake were hidden in the shadows, making sure they weren't seen.

The ANBU were still on the look-out for the older Uchiha, Itachi. There hadn't been any sightings of him in the past few days, and he hadn't been to visit Naruto or Sasuke either, which most likely meant that he was still recovering from the wounds Kakashi had inflicted on him during their battle.

Tsunade, Kakashi and Sakura were the ones tensest in their current situation. All three attended to their regular duties, but were on patrol duty for most of the night, taking alternating shifts.

The first few nights during the week, they had no luck in finding the wanted ninja. During the second week, villagers who lived near the edges of the village began coming to the Hokage to tell her of the quiet rustlings in the forest during the nights.

Nearing the end of the second week, a few villagers claimed they had seen a shadow slip through the trees.

They were stumped though; every time they went to guard their assigned posts, Itachi was always claimed to be seen somewhere else.

Always one step ahead.

Naruto and Sasuke, meanwhile, had been continuing the routine they had developed. They continued to train and spar with each other, getting stronger little by little.

Even so, both of them still felt that if they were ever to face Itachi again, they would surely be defeated. They still felt so weak.

The blonde was starting to feel extremely anxious as the day past by; there was still no sign of Itachi having been captured. It disturbed him to know that as injured as Itachi had been when Kakashi had fought with him, he was still able to avoid being caught.

Sasuke could feel the dobe starting to worry, and encouraged him train harder. _It's the only way we'll even stand half a chance against him. I've spent most of my life training myself for the moment I'll get to fight him, but he still ends up being stronger than me._ He said bitterly one day.

Exactly one week after the sightings of Itachi began; the ANBU came across a body near the edge of the forest. They couldn't identify who the body belonged to; it was charred black with the soft, but hideous stench of burning flesh emanating from it. The only thing they recognized were the remnants of an Akatsuki robe, most of it burnt or torn.

The ANBU were both anxious and full of dread. Anxious because there was finally some sign of them being able to save the blonde and the raven, yet also full of dread for the fact that if this new found body did happen to be Itachi, then that would change their whole perspective on things.

How was he burned?

How long had the body been lying there, waiting for someone to find it. Obviously it had been there for over a week, judging by what some of the medical nin's who'd accompanied them said.

They carried the burnt body for the Lady Hokage to examine. She was quite shocked at first, but concealed her emotions until after she was finished with examining the body.

It took a while to identify whom the body belonged to since it had definitely been at least over a week and a half since it had been burned.

When she was finished, she excused herself and asked Shizune, and Sakura to follow her to her office. If she had been surprised earlier, it was nothing compared to how she felt at the moment.

"Hokage-sama, what is it? Do you know who the body belongs to?" Sakura asked as soon as she closed the door behind her.

Tsunade sighed and sat down in her chair, elbows propped up on the table and palms together. She stayed quiet for a few minutes before she finally spoke.

"If I'm correct, then there is no mistaking that that body belongs to Uchiha Itachi..." she said in a grim tone.

"But then, why are you so tense? Shouldn't we be happy that Itachi's finally gone? In fact, we should go, tell Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun the good news." Sakura said, voicing her thoughts in her excitement.

She quieted down when Tsunade gave a threatening glare. Then she looked down at the papers lying on her desk, her expression softening. "I understand why you'd want to go and get them, but there's something odd about all this."

"Yes, I suspected it from the moment the ANBU members brought the body in," Shizune chipped in. "obviously, that body has been lying around for quite a while. And if it really is Itachi as you say it is, then how could a highly skilled ninja like him be burned? Burned completely black, I might add. It doesn't make sense."

"Exactly, and not only that, but how come the body wasn't found earlier? This wasn't the first time that area has been searched; someone would have seen it, or at least smelt the horrible stench of human flesh surrounding it."

"But, if the body has been identified as belonging to Itachi, then what does it matter how it all happened? Our first priority is to make sure Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are well and safe. And if you ask my opinion, being cooped up in that cave building inside the Hokage Mountain isn't very good for there health." Sakura said boldly, knowing that despite what she thought and how right she may have been, it wouldn't change lady Tsunade's opinion on letting the two lovers out.

Lady Tsunade gave Sakura a steady glare, looking straight through her, but otherwise said nothing. A few minutes passed by in silence.

Shizune was the first to speak. She walked over to the Tsunade's desk and looked straight into her eyes. "I understand if you do not wish to tell Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun just yet, but please allow me to go and see how they are doing. I'll be extremely careful, and won't say a word about this."

She waited silently for the Hokage's answer. When Lady Tsunade agreed to Shizune's proposition, she relaxed and smiled.

"Thank goodness. I thought you were planning to keep them there without any news of the outside forever!" And with a light chuckle, she bowed and took her leave.

Once Shizune had left her office, Tsunade looked up to glare Sakura straight in the eye. Sakura held her head high, and stared back, despite her lower-ranking position. She wanted her previous team-mates to be brought back to the village; it wasn't fair to leave them in the dark for so long.

After a few minutes of silence, Tsunade smiled and sighed, leaning back in her chair, her eyes downcast.

She let out a laugh when she saw Sakura's confused face. "Look, I can't let them out just yet; we have to make sure that Itachi hasn't played some sort of trick on us."

"But, Hokage-sama, you verified that that body really did belong to Itachi, so we shouldn't have to wait any longer. I'm sure Naruto is getting very upset, being cramped up in that hole in the mountain. And Sasuke must be very anxious about the long wait and-"

"I know that." Tsunade cut in. "I know how they must be feeling, but we can't let our guard down just yet. Itachi's a very strong ninja, with skill well above some of our most elite ninjas. If he was indeed burned like that, then there must be someone else who did that to him. Good or bad, we need to find whoever did that." she glanced out the window with a stern, yet far-away look. "And if that body is the result of some other jutsu done by Itachi, then we're in some serious trouble." She sat up properly in her chair again and gave a Sakura a hard look in the eye.

"I-I understand, Hokage-sama." Sakura sighed, and looked down at her feet, her hands clutched in a fist.

"And don't forget: we still don't even know why Itachi is after Naruto." she gave Sakura a quick wink, trying to make her understand that this was all for the best. "I'm sorry, but they'll have to wait just a little longer."

Sakura nodded and bowed, then turned to head towards the door.

"Sakura, wait. Can you do me a favor?"

Sakura turned her head to face the Hokage and nodded. "Of course, what is it?"

Tsunade smirked. "I'd like you to deliver some delicious ramen to a special blonde friend of mine for me. Hope you don't mind."

Sakura grinned. "Nope, I don't mind at all." She gave a bow again and left, closing the door behind her.

Left alone in her office, Tsunade sighed in relief, muttering to herself. "Damn, all this stress is not going to be good for me."

Sakura walked towards the Ichiraku ramen shop which Naruto loved so much. She bought three miso ramen to go; two for the blonde and one for Sasuke.

Once she had paid, she walked casually until she was far away from the village so no one would see her, then she increased her pace so she was running at full speed towards Naruto and Sasuke's temporary home. Once she was within sight, she slowed down, letting the ANBU guards see her, to let them know she was approaching.

As she got closer, she saw Shizune come out through the hidden exit.

She noticed that the ANBU had acknowledged her coming and waved a small flag with the Leaf Village symbol to let them know she had permission to enter the premises.

She walked up to them and smiled, holding up the bag of ramen she was carrying.

"Lady Hokage sent me to give these two some ramen, I won't take too long." she said and went straight through the mountain wall.

In order for the blonde and raven not to notice any exits, the gen-jutsu had been done behind a large picture frame which held a wall scroll painting of Konoha. Lady Tsunade had made it so that the two wouldn't know - even with the raven's Sharingan - yet easily accessible by ANBU incase of an emergency.

Sakura peeked her head in, making sure neither of the two boys were around. She waited a few seconds, then walked out. Hearing the sounds of some training going on, she went to see what was up.

As soon as she turned the corner and stepped inside the room they were training in, the two stopped to face her, sweat dripping off their faces.

"S-Sakura! Wha-? How'd you get in here?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded.

Sakura giggled and walked forward, the other two relaxing as she smiled at them, holding up the ramen she had bought for the two.

"Don't ask 'how', Naruto, I'm not allowed to tell. Here, I bought you guys some ramen." she said happily.

Sasuke looked at her with suspicion. He wasn't convinced that it was the real Sakura; it could just be Itachi in disguise. "Sakura," he said. "what is Kakashi-sensei's favorite pastime?"

Naruto looked between the two, at first unsure of why Sasuke had just randomly asked her that question. Realizing the raven real intention, he frowned, waiting for Sakura to give an answer.

"Oh, uh...reading Icha Icha Paradise...he never puts that book down! Even now." she said calmly but jokingly, knowing why she had been asked that.

The blonde grinned at her wildly, and walked pass her, heading towards the kitchen. "C'mon! I'm hungry Sasuke-teme, let's eat!"

The other two followed behind him. When they settled down in the small living room where Sakura had secretly entered from, Naruto took out the ramen and started eating as if there was no tomorrow.

"So, is there any good news?" Sasuke asked in the middle of eating his own noodles, looking at Sakura curiously. Naruto looked up at the pink-haired nin, sitting up properly, waiting for an answer.

Sakura shook her head and looked down at her feet. "No, we still haven't found any trace of him." she lied. "Hokage-sama thinks he's still hidden somewhere in the forest, healing, then he'll come out again when he's at full strength."

"Hn."

"Heh, well we'll be ready when he comes! Sasuke-teme and I have been training really hard since we got here, working on how to defeat that bastard."

Sasuke sneaked a worried glance at his blonde dobe. After the first few days when they started living there, Naruto had been acting like his 'usual' hyper-active self. There was no sign of hurt from anything that happened in the past between him and Itachi. This worried the raven since he knew it was all just an act to keep Sasuke from worrying.

"Yeah," Sasuke went along with the blonde on this one. "I'm not letting him get away with what he's done."

Sakura looked at two, knowing there was some unsaid tension going on underneath. Figuring it must be their anxiousness from staying in there with no news so far, she decided to change the topic.

"So, how have you two been doing, cooped up in here for so long? There's mostly only instant food here, isn't that right?" she looked at Naruto.

"Oh yeah, it's been terrible! Going on without some good ol' Ichiraku Ramen..." he sighed, getting up throwing his empty carton in the garbage opening the other one.

"Dobe, slow down, you'll get a stomach ache." the raven said in an annoyed tone. On the inside he was really happy that the blonde finally got his ramen, he'd been complaining about that for the past few days now.

"Oh, c'mon Sasuke, I haven't tasted food this great for ages!" the blonde whined.

Sasuke just smirked.

"Oh yeah, Sakura, how's everyone else doing? I bet they miss my excellent ninja skills!" Naruto said between mouthfuls of ramen. Sasuke stood up to put his own empty one in the garbage.

"Oh yeah, they sure do, heh heh" Sakura said, trying to hide the sarcasm. "They miss your loud voice too."

"HA! They didn't say anything while we were still there, right teme?" he looked over at the raven who just shrugged as a response.

Naruto sighed, putting down his finished ramen and turned over onto his back, leaning on the raven with his feet sticking out.

Sakura smiled at this, but her inner self couldn't help but get a little jealous despite the fact that she had given up on Sasuke a few years ago. She ignored, trying to convince herself that Sasuke and Naruto were perfectly happy with eachother.

She cleared her throat, wanting to get onto the real reason for her coming to visit. She'd been lucky to get permission to come here; she didn't want to have to resort to sneaking out.

Sasuke looked at her sharply, and Naruto glanced over as well.

"Um, well, the main reason I came here was to give you two something." She dug inside her pocket and took out a small vile, barely five centimeters in length. "It's a highly concentrated paralyzing poison. Use it only as a last resort."

She gave it over to Sasuke's outstretched hands. "It only works when it enters the blood stream, even through a paper cut. But if you happen to drink it all, you'll just pass out for a few hours, and that's it."

Though she heavily hoped that the body that was found really was the real Itachi, she had brought the poison just incase. She had planned this for a few days now, but hadn't gotten a chance to bring it until now.

"So, how can we use it to our advantage?" Naruto questioned, looking at the small vile in the raven's hands.

"You'll have to figure that out for yourselves, unfortunately." she said, watching the two. "There's no way to reverse the effects unless you have the antidote. I couldn't bring the antidote because it doesn't fit into my pocket."

"So, if Itachi ever attacks us again, we just gotta make him bleed and spill it on him?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded. "That's right. Even a few drops would do. It doesn't take effect immediately, but when it does, Itachi won't be able to move." she smirked, then bit down on her tongue to stop herself from telling them that he's probably dead anyway.

Naruto let out a heavy cough, startled the other two. "Sorry."

Sakura smiled gently at him, making sure he was alright. Sasuke glanced over at the blonde once more, looking over him for any signs of something being out of the ordinary.

Sakura stood up and looked at the two. "You should get back to your training you know. I think I've stayed for too long anyways."

The raven and blonde stood up as well, and headed back to the room Sakura had found them in. Sakura followed them inside, intending to leave after they had started.

Naruto had a coughing fit again as they entered the room, worrying Sasuke even more. _He was fine this morning, what's wrong?_

Sasuke came up behind the blonde, putting a hand around his shoulder and leaning in to him, and asked if he was okay. The blonde only nodded, but kept coughing, stopping in the middle of his steps.

He doubled over, his hand over his mouth. Sakura rushed past them and got a glass of water for the blonde.

"No _cough_ that's okay _cough cough_" he shook his head, and made his way towards the bathroom.

The raven went to follow him, but the blonde slammed the door in his face before he could get in. Shocked at the blonde behavior, he looked at the pink-haired nin, making a face as if to say _Did I do something wrong?_

Sakura shook her head, motioned for the raven to move aside, then started banging on the door. "Naruto! Come out! You need to drink some water!"

She paused and they could hear the blonde's coughing continuing. The raven tried his best to persuade the blonde to come out, but to no avail. "Dobe! Please! Come out, or let me in; did I do something wrong?" He had a desperate plea in his voice, but the dobe still wouldn't give any response.

The two standing outside heard the tap turn on, and the sound of running water. Sasuke started trying again to let the blonde come out, and when he didn't hear a reply from the other side again, he backed up to knock the door down; his last resort.

But just as he was about to make contact with the door, it opened, sending the raven stumbling into the bathroom, only to be caught by the blonde.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief, seeing the blonde finally come out. Sasuke looked up at the blonde to see his signature smile spread across his face.

Standing up properly, the raven looked at the blonde squarely in the eye. "What happened? Are you alright? Why did you lock yourself in there?" He started ranting, not bothering to try and hide his concern for the dobe.

Naruto smiled dropped for a split second, seeing the raven look at him so desperately. Scratching the back of his head, and putting on his grin again, he laughed lightly, and said "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you guys so much, I just had a coughing fit and went in here to cough it out without you guys gathering around me. Heh heh, it makes me nervous when you do that."

He continued smiling at the raven as though nothing had happened. Sasuke took a step forward and slunk his arms around the blonde, snuggling into the nape of his neck.

Raising his head slightly, he whispered "What were you really doing in there?"

Naruto stiffened a bit, but put his arms around the raven, leaning onto him, and closed his eyes.

At this precise moment, Sakura took her leave, walking away as quietly as she could, so she wouldn't disturb the two. She had done what she had come for and she wanted to leave the two alone. Naruto's little fit there had certainly shocked her, but she was sure everything would be alright after Sasuke turned things back to normal.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. It was nothing, honest. If something happened, you know you're the first person I'd go to," The blonde whispered softly into the raven's ear. "Because I love you."

Sasuke shut eyes and held his dobe closer, trying to convince himself that nothing had happened, and that there really wasn't anything wrong. He couldn't help but feeling as though there was a familiar scent in the air, though he couldn't tell what it was.

Sighing, he let go of the blonde, holding just his hands, and gave him a peck on the lips.

The blonde looked into his eyes, a small blush appearing on his fair skin.

Looking beyond the raven, he noticed something was different. "Hey, where'd Sakura disappear to?"

He poked his head out of the bathroom and looked around, but there was no sign of the pink-haired nin.

"Hn, I guess she left. Obviously she didn't want us to see the exit so I guess she left while we weren't paying much attention to it." Sasuke smirked and walked towards their training room, readying his weapons for another one on one spar.

Naruto walked in right behind him and grabbed his kunai and shuriken with which he had been practicing before Sakura had come in.

Taking a deep breath, the two of them faced each other, waiting for the other to start their first move.

Essentially it was the blonde to took off first and threw his kunai towards the raven's shoulder.

From there, the two spent the next two hours completing a training session Sasuke had come up with.

In the evening, after they had finished eating and had finally decided to relax and cuddle up, they heard a slow rumble coming from the back wall on the opposite side of corridor. At first they suspected it to just be some rock moving around if there was some nasty weather outside.

When the noise only got louder, Sasuke got up to check on it, the blonde tagged along behind him, cautious for any intruders.

As they neared the end of the long hallway to the last (extra) room they had, they stepped inside and waited.

They could clearly hear the loud rumble coming from within the wall they were facing.

Staying on guard, they watched as the wall stared to shake and the various objects on the shelves started falling off.

The rumbling started to get softer and finally came to a stop a few minutes later.

When nothing happened, Naruto walked stepped around the raven and walked towards the wall.

"Naru-!" Sasuke shouted as he heard the rumbling again, louder than before.

Before he made to his blonde dobe, the wall burst open, sending debris flying everywhere and knocking the blonde backwards into the wall behind him.

"NO!" the raven yelled again, rushing towards his fallen blonde lover.

* * *

**Hope you liked it. **

**Review please!!**

Just give me a few more days for the next one...PLEASE! I'm swamped with a huge-ass assignment and I haven't started yet. Wait just a _little_ bit longer...XD


	12. Night's Revenge

**Hey everyone. I'm really sorry about the delay, but here's the rest of the chapter. **

**I hope you like it. I've already started on the next one, which I think might be the last...**

* * *

Sasuke rushed to help the blonde get up from the rubble that surrounded him.

"Urg," Naruto put a hand to the side of his head where a new bruise had jut formed. "Thanks, Sasuke."

Once he was sure the dobe was okay, the raven looked over at the newly formed hole in the wall where a figure stood, awaiting their acknowledgement.

There was no doubt in the blonde's nor raven's minds who it was that had just blasted down their wall. What sent a chill of panic down their spine was the fact that neither of the two ninja's were ready to fight their intruder.

Uchiha Itachi took a step forward, walking into the light of the room, taking in his surroundings.

He smirked. "So this is--"

Not another word escaped his mouth before the ANBU were on him. Four ANBU members had stolen their way into the make-shift house and were now inflicting a round of kicks and punches on Itachi, who was caught off guard by the sudden ambush.

The blonde looked over at Sasuke, shocked, yet at the same time extremely grateful for the plan Lady Tsunade or whoever it was that had organized it.

In a fraction of a second when the ANBU let up their efforts, Itachi was able to start fighting back, no longer being pulverized by the elite ninja.

During the fight, the older Uchiha was still able to attack Naruto, throwing a kunai in his direction, catching the dobe unaware, but luckily only grazing his shoulder.

Enraged, the raven started towards his older brother, ready to attack with full force. But before he could get there, however, he was stopped by an ANBU member who was closest to him.

"No, I'm sorry, but we were given strict instructions to make either of you a part of this." and with that he jumped back into the battle.

But in those few seconds where the ANBU member had neglected the fight in order to stop the raven, Itachi let out a smoke bomb.

The other six ninja who were now left coughing amidst the smoke screen were trying to frantically to get rid of the grey smoke that was now swallowing them in it's darkness.

The ANBU were at an advantage over the two lovers since they had come prepared, should they encounter similar jutsu's or diversions.

The blonde had started coughing worse than the rest of them, having another coughing fit. He doubled over on the floor, trying to block the smoke.

"I _will_ get you...sooner or later." the voice of Itachi whispered in his ear.

Naruto gasped and started looking around frantically for where the voice had come from. He saw a glimpse of raven-black hair and jerked forwards instinctively, to strike, still trying to stop the continuous coughing.

"Ow! Dobe, what was that for?!" Sasuke head appeared from behind the slowly disappearing smoke.

_Oh no, I hit Sasuke!_ Naruto cursed to himself, looking around again for the older Uchiha.

Seeing the blonde on the floor with a terrified expression on his face, Sasuke knelt down beside his lover and best friend, embracing him in his arms, protecting him incase Itachi decided to attack him.

Closing his shut, and holding the blonde closer to him desperately, he waited in apprehension for what was to come.

Waiting...for what never came.

There was silence in the room, save for the blonde's occasional coughing, as they all waiting for Itachi to make his move.

"He's left," said one of the ANBU members. "He only used the smoke as a diversion."

He looked over at the other three and they all nodded, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The blonde and raven were left alone in the midst of all the rubble and debris, holding each other close in their arms, Naurto's coughing finally having dissipated.

* * *

Sasuke helped the dobe get up since the said blonde was shaking slightly due to all the coughing an shock. They walked over to the couches in the main room and sat down.

Naruto sat with his knees to his chest, staring at the wall on the opposite side, completely silent.

Sasuke was leaning his back on the dobe, his legs spread long in front of him.

After a while, Naruto sighed and finally spoke up. "Sasuke," he started. "That was pathetic."

The raven looked over his shoulder at the blonde.

"We couldn't do anything! We were supposed to be prepared. What was all this training for?!"

Sasuke continued to stare at him, choosing to remain silent, no expression on his face.

The dobe paused for a few seconds, hesitating to go on. "No, I'm sorry Sasuke; it's just that...I'm...scared." he said the last word in a tiny voice, speaking more to himself than to Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded slowly, and then sat up properly, turning to face the blonde and couldn't help but feel that the blonde looked so cute curled up to himself. He put an arm around the dobe, who put his head on the raven's shoulder.

"Dobe," Sasuke said. "I'll never forgive myself if I let anything happens to you, and before anything does, I promise to kill Itachi. The damage he's done already is unchangeable; wounds like those don't heal very fast." he paused. "It hurts to see you in pain. When you rushed into the bathroom earlier, I just felt so helpless. And, Naruto, I'm willing to believe that it was just a coughing fit you had...probably because you eat too much ramen." he added as an afterthought to lighten up the mood.

The blonde looked up into Sasuke's dark, obsidian, eyes seeing the love and worry directed at him.

The Uchiha leaned down on the blonde, tilting his lover's chin up.

"Ahem, sorry to interrupt," said a familiar voice, knocking the two out of their intimate mood.

'Arg! Kakashi!" Naruto yelled out, jumping off the couch and turned to face Kakashi who had just popped in from the wall behind then. "How long were you standing there?!"

Sasuke turned to face his former sensei, growling under his breath, but otherwise silent and expressionless as always.

"Hmmm, long enough." he replied, smiling underneath his mask. "I received a message from the Hokage about what happened here," he continued in a serious tone.

He motioned for the two to lead the way to where Itachi had come in from.

Naruto was slightly reluctant, wanting to yell at Kakashi some more for invading.

Sasuke showed him the way. He prioritized catching Itachi above all else at the moment.

There was a giant hole in the wall from where Itachi had barged in, and the rubble and debris still littered the floor.

"After he left, the ANBU black-ops forces disappeared as well. they didn't say where they went." Sasuke said.

"Three of them went after Itachi, the fourth came to inform the Hokage." Kakashi said lightly as he went around examining the place.

Sasuke leaned against the side of the wall, watching Kakashi with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Naruto was standing in the middle of the room, a helpless look on his face.

After a few minutes, Kakashi stood up straight and looked at the other two. "Well, I'm done what I came here for. You two," he glared first at the blonde then the raven. "will have to stay here for a while longer I'm afraid. Until we've captured Itachi and made sure that he won't be coming after you, you're stuck here."

Kakashi looked at the two and motioned for them to lead the way.

Sasuke grunted his consent and led the way out of the half destroyed room and back to where they had come from.

"Uhh, I'll be right back." Naruto said, and then entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

When the two entered the main room, Sasuke put his finger to his lips, telling his former sensei to stay quiet, and then told him about what had happened earlier with his blonde lover.

Kakashi nodded slowly when the raven finished explaining. Before he could say anything however, Naruto entered the room, a smile spread across his face.

"Well then, take care you two." Kakashi said quickly. He walked to the corner of the room and turned around to face the two.

"What?"

"You're not supposed to be here when I leave." The Jonin said exasperated. "Oh and your wall should be fixed by the time you wake up. Good night." he called to Sasuke and Naruto as they left the room.

With that, he walked briskly to the opposite side of the room and vanished.

* * *

(The following day)

Tsunade let out a heavy sigh and looked out the window to her right. She had been waiting for someone, and they still weren't here yet. It was noon sharp, and the scheduled meeting was supposed to have been two and a half hours ago.

Everything that had happened the past two days had been rough on her, and she only guess how the two lovers were doing, cooped up in their temporary hideout.

She started grumbling under her breath, a sign that her patience was wearing out. She stood up and went over to the window, looking down at the village, and tapping her foot on the floor, waiting.

A couple of minutes passed and she heard the silent opening of the door behind her. She took a breath, turning around and looking at her late guest square in the face, before letting out her steam. "You're late! A full two and a half hours late! I cancelled all my morning meetings at _your_ request, and who's the one coming in late? You better have a good excuse!"

She walked over briskly to her chair and sat down, an aura of impatience and anger emitting from her.

"Heh heh, yeah sorry about that...I stopped by to do some research for-"

"Oh, don't even start with me Jiraiya. I know about you and your research! Now tell me why you're here." Tsunade cut in, leaving the white haired toad sage with a blank expression on his face.

Jiraiya looked at his former team mate, then walked forwards to her desk and leaned forward. "You know why I'm here. This is a serious matter, and you need to tell the two before matters get any worse."

Tsunade sighed and leaned back on her chair, the aura of impatience suddenly gone.

"They've already got so much to worry about, they must be so anxious as to why Itachi would be after Naruto. Telling them might make matters worse; Naruto would be heavily depressed about it. He loves Sasuke so much he'd be broken to see that the Uchiha kid would try to protect him from something he has absolutely no control over."

"Naruto? And Sasuke?" Jiraiya looked blankly at the Hokage, then smirked. "So, they finally..."

Tsunade nodded curtly in response, and then bowed her head in thought. "Are you absolutely sure of the reason behind Itachi being after Naruto?"

Jiraiya looked at her in the eye, a serious expression on his face. "Yes, it's the same reason as last time. The only difference now is that he's taking his time to break Naruto from the inside out. And the only reason he's letting Sasuke stay alive is because in order for him to perform the jutsu in the end, he'll need his blood."

Tsunade closed her eyes in disgust, even though she already knew what Jiraiya had been about to say. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again, unsure of what exactly she wanted to say.

Jiraiya straightened up and took a deep breath before saying, sternly and clearly: "You need to tell them as soon as possible before things get any worse!" his expression softened and he continued. "Once they know the truth, it'll be easier for them and for the rest of Konoha to handle the situation."

Tsunade looked up at the other Sannin with blazing eyes full of determination. "You're absolutely right, Jiraiya. If the Akatsuki really _are_ after what we _believe_ they're after, then our number one priority should be to protect them." she stood up and walked over to the window where she had been waiting for the Toad Sage earlier. "The only question now is what do the two already know? From what I heard from Kakashi, Naruto already knows quite a lot from the time he had gone training with you." she motioned her head towards the other Sannin and gave a small smirk.

The Toad Sage sighed and put a hand through his long, white hair. "Yeah, he pretty much knows why the Akatsuki were after him back then. But he doesn't know the full details behind it, only that they wanted his chakra. He doesn't know the means they would have used to attain it."

"Hmmm."

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade curiously, wondering what she was planning.

"You know, Jiraiya, I haven't told anyone just yet, but one of the ANBU team members came to me late last night with an urgent message from the _over there_." she out some emphasis on the last two words, indicating to the Toad Sage what she was talking about. "Apparently, Uchiha Itachi is still alive." There was a great amount of contempt in her voice as she spoke.

"What?!" Jiraiya exclaimed loudly, almost jumping. "But you confirmed that that body belonged to Itachi!"

"Yes, and it was, in a way." she turned around to face him fully. "He used an ancient jutsu, which I figured no one knew about, but apparently I underestimated him. It must certainly have cost him a lot, he won't be able to use his Sharingan for very long periods of time for the next little while." She expected Jiraiya to ask about the Jutsu, but he kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to continue. "Well, the good part about this is that we know for sure that our ninja's are in top shape; neither Naruto nor Sasuke were severely injured, and they're both safe at the moment."

Jiraiya still had a shocked expression on his face. "You must tell them then! Before things get any worse! I'll go there myself and make sure they know everything." He turned to leave, but by the time he reached the door, he was struck hard on the head by one of Tsunade's books.

"_You're_ not going anywhere. I'll send someone else to go instead; maybe Kakashi or Iruka. If you end up going there, there may be even more trouble." Tsunade said sternly, an annoyed expression on her face. "Besides, I thought the reason you came late today was because you had research to do, then why would you offer to go off right now and be willing to sacrifice you precious researching time?"

Tsunade was about to send another book flying at the other Sannin, but he managed to leave the room just in time, the book hitting against the wall with a soft _thump_.

* * *

When the raven woke up the following morning, he turned over onto his side to wake the blonde but noticed he was not there. Worried at the blonde's sudden disappearance, he got up out of bed and almost ran him as he headed towards their kitchen.

"Whoa! Teme, what's the hurry?" Naruto exclaimed, grinned widely. He was still in his pajamas and was holding a tray full of breakfast in his hands.

Sasuke sighed in relief. "What's that for dobe? I didn't know you could cook anything besides instant ramen." The raven smirked as the blonde's face flushed red.

"Oh, _I_ see how it is. I guess you don't want this _wonderful_ breakfast I cooked up just for you!" he closed his eyes shut and made as if to turn around back towards the kitchen.

"Hey, hey, I was just joking around." Sasuke said with an airy voice, following the blonde. "Anyways, why'd you do all this? I could've made everything on my own, y'know."

"I know. But I got up to go to the bathroom and then I couldn't fall asleep. Besides, I thought it would be a nice change after being cooped up in here for so long and 'cause of what happened yesterday. Oh yeah," he added. "That wall's all fixed up, just like Kakashi-sensei said. And everything's cleaned up too!"

They sat down together at the table after the raven had gone to freshen himself up a bit.

"Truthfully, when I woke, I thought something had happened to you." His face turned a faint red color and he muttered softly. "So I panicked and got up to look for you."

Naruto looked down at his food. "Oh. Sorry about that, I should've let you know first."

"It's ok, don't apologize dobe." Sasuke said quickly, his face still pink. "Anyways, I've got a great plan incase any of what happened last night happens again. I'm glad Sakura gave us that poison yesterday.

Naruto looked up curiously, as Sasuke told him about the new plan he had thought up of the night before.

* * *

Midway through their afternoon training, they were interrupted by a loud "Hey!"

The stopped immediately, and headed towards they're sitting room. They had been interrupted quite a lot the past few days. This time their visitor was the Hokage herself.

"Hey, Tsunade baa-chan! How come you're here today?" Naruto grinned as he entered the room, sweat dripping off his forehead. His expression then changed as he said "Is it something about _him_? What happened after the ANBU left?"

Sasuke, who had been staring at the Hokage, turned to look at the blonde. He was looking down at the floor, a hard look on his face.

Tsunade sighed and took a seat on a chair closest to her, propping up her elbow against the table. "Well, if you really want to get right to the matter than I guess that's best. The ANBU chased him for quite a bit, and when they finally caught up to him, Itachi started to fight back. One of the members managed to take away his Katana, but I expect he probably has more. He was tremendously weakened, for reasons I'll get to in a bit, but he still managed to get away." She took a deep breath before continuing. "One of black-ops members had pretty bad injuries from a jutsu, but the rest of them are okay, and should be back to replace the Jonin who are guarding this place right now."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Sasuke cut him off. "You said he was weakened; how?"

"Well, we hadn't told you this, but several days ago, we found Itachi's body, burnt black, near the edge of the forest outside the village --"

"What?!" the two ninjas exclaimed at the same time.

"That's right. I checked the body myself, but --"

"And no one bothered to tell us?!" Naruto cried out, almost shouting due to the anger boiling up inside of him.

"Naruto, would you let me finish?!" Tsunade barked, getting annoyed at the interruptions. "So, as I was _saying, _I checked the body myself and concluded that it belonged to Itachi, and that's what I told everyone else. Sakura wanted to let you two know as soon as possible so that you could out again.

"What I _didn't_ tell anyone was that I sensed there was something different about it all. The body seemed to have been dead a week before it was found, but the burn marks were pretty recent, but there was no sign of injury on the body besides that. So, what really happened was that Itachi preformed a very ancient jutsu, which I was sure know one knew about so I hadn't thought of checking whether it really had been used. You see, the jutsu takes a great amount of chakra and power to perform, I hadn't expected him to use it. Then, when I heard from the ANBU that you had been attacked, I checked the body again, and I realized that really wasn't Itachi at all. He had used another body in his place."

She turned her head to the side, thinking of what to say next.

"He used another body in his place? _That_ _bastard!_" Sasuke hissed, clenching his fist, a scowl spread across his face.

Tsunade turned to face them again; she had to say what she had come to say in the first place. "Now, the main reason why I came here today was to explain to you two what we think is the reason Itachi has been after Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened and all color drained from his face. He stood up casually from the chair he had just taken a seat in, turning his back on the other two, pretending he was looking for a snack in one of the cupboards, meanwhile listening intently as the Hokage continued.

"We think, that is, Jiraiya, Kakashi and I, think that Itachi is after Naruto for the same reason as when the Akatsuki were after him last time; for the Kyuubi."

"The Kyuubi? But what does the Kyuubi have to do with Naruto?" Sasuke asked suspiciously, looking over his shoulder to where the blonde was still looking for something in the cupboard.

Naruto's heart was pounding frantically, and he felt light headed. _If Sasuke finds out I'm the Kyuubi's vessel, he'll hate me! _

"When the fourth Hokage fought against the Kyuubi, he didn't kill it. A beast like that cannot be killed. Instead, it was captured and seal--"

"NO! Stop! Don't say any more." Naruto turned around to face them, chalk white with his eyes wide open. "I know now what he's after; you don't have to say anything else!"

Sasuke looked shocked at the blonde's odd behavior. "Naruto...? What's wrong? You don't look so good." He stood up from his own chair and made towards the blonde, to make sure he was alright.

Naruto pushed him away and continued to stare with wide open eyes at the Hokage. "How could you? I've tried so hard, for so long to make sure _no one_ would know. Why now?" His voice was small, scared.

Tsunade, masking the grief she felt looking into the blonde's eyes, replied firmly. "I'm sorry Naruto, but Sasuke has a right to know--"

"Know? Know what?" Sasuke's eyes drifted from Naruto, to Tsunade, to Naruto again. "Naruto, what am I missing?"

Naruto whimpered, looking at the raven with frightened eyes, unsure of what to say. He took a step back, and bumped into the counter-top. He looked down, biting his lip. "I...uh..."

Sasuke turned to lady Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, what's going on? You said that Itachi is after the power of the Kyuubi, that's why he's after him," he pointed at the dobe. "But, why Naruto?"

Tsunade glanced over at Naruto, silently asking for permission, before answering the raven. "As I said earlier, when the Fourth Hokage fought against the Kyuubi, he didn't kill it," she looked over at the blonde again. "Instead h-he sealed it. Inside a newborn child." She looked down.

"Sealed it? Sealed the Kyuubi inside a newborn child..." Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "And...and that child was Naruto?"

He felt a sudden wave of emotion and understanding sweep through him. He felt overwhelmed and yet at the same time he felt pathetic for never having known earlier.

"That's right," Naruto muttered bitterly, despite how broken he felt inside. "He sealed it inside me. It's living and breathing through me right now. It's because of the Kyuubi that my wounds heal so quickly." He took a stuttering breath. "I have another form of chakra inside of me."

"That's right, and that's helped you so much over the years, hasn't it Naruto? The Kyuubi has saved your life numerous times and--" Tsunade got cut off as the blonde started half shouting at the two of them.

"Yeah, and that's also why the whole of Konoha hates me, isn't it?! I bet they're happy right now that I'm stuck here, away from their kids, away from the monster that they all hate so much!" Tears were flowing down his face now and his face was full of despair and resentment. "I-I tried so hard, for all these years, to put it all behind me and ignore it; to show everyone another side of me...and now...now..."

He wiped the tears out of his eyes and walked swiftly through the door, headed for the bathroom and locked the door behind him. Lady Tsunade and Sasuke could hear the sobs coming from the door.

"H-Hokage-sama...I didn't...I mean - well..." Sasuke stuttered, looking at Tsunade, his eyes wide after listening to the dobe.

The Hokage stood up and walked closer to the raven, putting a hand on his shoulder, looking at him sympathetically. "It's okay. I understand how you must be feeling. Naruto's gone so long with just putting a smile on his face, keeping everything hidden; it must hurt him when he hears everything told to him like that. It probably hurt him even more, knowing that he had gotten you involved. But I had to tell you; you needed to know.

"Listen, Sasuke," he turned his face towards hers. "You are not telling anyone about what you heard just now. Understand?"

"Yes, of course."

She sighed. "You know, he probably thinks you hate his guts right now...that you're absolutely disgusted. No, I know you don't feel like that," she stopped him before he could say anything. "It's how he's been treated by the villagers ever since he was a child; always excluded or bullied."

The raven clenched his fist, his insides burning with anger. _How dare they?!_

"You should go and talk to him. He may not be willing to believe you, but I'm sure he will in the end." she strode over to the small couch. "I need to go now. Take care of him okay?"

Sasuke nodded and walked silently towards the door which the blonde had just gone through.

"Oh, and Sasuke, Itachi is very weak right now, not in a proper condition to fight...though he might think otherwise." she chuckled and was gone before the raven had turned around.

* * *

**Hope you liked it. I made it longer then usual...incase you didn't notice...to make up for the delay...**

**Again, the next chapter might be the last, unless you peoples want an epilogue, I'm not sure...**

**So, please review. I'll try to finish the next chapter as soon as I can. **

**(School's starting soon and it's a new school for me this year; I'm so nervous.)**


	13. Night's Last

**HURRRAH! The last chapter! OH MY GOD! O.O  
Is Naruto okay? Will the blonde and the raven still love each other? What's going to happen to Naruto? Will Itachi finally be defeated? Will Sasuke satisfy his thurst for vengence? WHAT is their secret plan?! WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LAST CUP OF RAMEN?!**

**Find out now and read the final chapter!! **

**Hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...sadly...but if I did, then, heh heh, I'll- (gets KO'd by giant stuffed panda)**

* * *

Sasuke was banging on the door to the bathroom, hoping that the blonde would come out so he could get everything settled down.

It had only been a few minutes since Lady Hokage had left, but the raven was getting increasingly impatient; the dobe hadn't answered even once in respond.

"Naruto! Come out! We have to talk," Sasuke shouted.

He desperately wanted to talk everything out, face to face, to tell the blonde that he would stay with him no matter what, and that it didn't matter to him if Naruto was the Kyuubi's vessel, but there was still no response.

He waited a few seconds before continuing. "Dobe, if you don't open the door right now, I'm going to have to break it open!"

When there was no answer, he took a step back, and then started towards the door with a run, bracing himself for the impact.

The door broke open and he stumbled into the small bathroom, stepping over splintered wood.

What he saw sent cold chills down his spine and he felt a sickly knot tighten in his stomach.

Naruto was lying face down on the bottom of the floor, unconscious, with a trickle of blood running down from the side of his mouth.

As the raven stepped closer to his lover and best friend, he saw drops of blood spattered all over the sink counter and on the floor near the bottom of the cabinet.

He knelt down and took the blonde into his arms, brushing a lock of blonde hair away from his lover's forehead.

There was no sign of there having been a fight or struggle, besides the broken door.

The raven sighed in relief as he noticed the steady breathing of his dobe; he was only unconscious.

He rubbed off the drying blood from the blonde's mouth and stroked the side of his cheek for a moment before picking him up and taking him to their bedroom.

He laid the Kyuubi holder gently on the bed and covered him with a blanket.

Reluctantly, the young Uchiha walked back over to the bathroom. Only now did panic and worry fully strike through him like a bolt of lightning

What had happened? Had Itachi broken in again and tried to hurt the blonde? But there was no sign of any entrance Itachi could have used to get in besides the door which the Uchiha had just broken though. If he had, Sasuke or Lady Tsunade would surely have heard something while they were talking. And how could he have gotten out? The raven had been standing in front of the bathroom door for quite a while; he would have seen or heard something.

That only left one explanation: something had happened to Naruto on its own, without any external force.

Sasuke racked his brains for an answer while cleaning up the mess of debris on the floor, thinking hard.

It was when he was nearly done that he had come up with an appropriate answer that actually fit: Naruto's coughing. He knew it hadn't been ordinary coughing, no matter how much the blonde tried to convince him otherwise.

He finished up and walked back over to his bedroom, to check up on how the dobe was doing.

The raven sat down beside him on the large bed, running a hand through his lover's hair. Somewhere in the back of his head, he acknowledged the fact that he was actually sitting with the holder of the Kyuubi itself, a monster that most of the whole of Konoha despised.

Anger at the villagers bubbled through him as he thought about it; it wasn't the dobe's fault...none of it was. The fact that the blonde had spent his entire life being shunned and loathed for something he had no control over and spent so long trying to make up for it, covering it up, swept over the Uchiha in a great rush of overwhelming emotion.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and looked away, hiding the unexplained guilt he felt. The confidence he had had after Lady Tsunade left had disappeared now and he struggled to think of something he could possible say to the blonde when he would awaken.

Hearing a moan, he looked back at the now semi-conscious dobe, lying on the bed beside him. He looked intently at his lover and saw fear strike through the azure eyes when they opened. It was only for a moment, and then he was back to normal.

"Sorry," Sasuke whispered, worried that he had made his lover remember the horrible memories he so desperately tried to hide and forget.

He helped the blonde get up into a sitting position, propping up a pillow behind his back.

"Are you alright? How do you feel?" Sasuke asked, sounding much calmer than he felt.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," the dobe replied softly.

"What happ-" but before the raven could finish his question, Naruto grabbed his hand and looked at him intently, a desperate and worried expression exposed clearly on his face.

"Sasuke, I know you probably hate my guts right now, but, please, you have to understand! All my feelings for you are true! If you choose to leave, I'll understand, but if you do, I'll be broken...there's no way I can handle all this on my own! Please," he had started sobbing now and was furiously wiping his tears away on the back of his sleeve life a small child. "Please, don't go...it's not my fault...Sasuke."

"Naruto," he had remained silent and let the blonde say what he had wanted. Now he took him into his arms again, stroking his hair and letting him sob on his chest. "You really are a dobe. How could you ever think I'd leave you? It doesn't matter to me what you are, just that you're my Usuratonkachi.

He lifted the blonde's chin up so he was now looking directly into his azure eyes. "Now tell me what happened." He gave those rosy lips a gently kiss and waited patiently for an answer.

After a few moments, Naruto finally replied hesitantly. "Y-you're not mad? You don't h-hate me?"

The raven shook his head and answered softly. "No, never."

Looking highly relieved, the Kyuubi vessel relaxed into his lover's arms, embracing him. "It...it was Itachi...again - no wait, he wasn't _there_," he added hastily as the Uchiha clutched his fists. "It happened before...while I was on that mission with Shikamaru. That night in the forest, h-he made me drink something. That's what makes me cough so much, and apparently it gives him control of my organs and the damage keeps getting worse every day. Today was the worse...and he said it'll only be gone once he's dead." He gave a shudder and fell silent, taking in the comfort of being with his lover.

A few minutes passed by in silence, Naruto clutching Sasuke as though his life depended on it and the raven holding him in his arms, contemplating what to do next.

Finally, Sasuke broke the silence, when a thought came to him. "Dobe, why didn't you tell me about it before? Maybe Hokage-sama could have helped..." He wasn't angry, just concerned.

The blonde gave a whimper and then answered. "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't know about it until last night..."

The Uchiha looked at him, confused.

"I'd been trying so hard to keep everything out of my mind. A-and then when I first started coughing up blood that bad - when Sakura came - I-I just got so scared. And I didn't want to worry you..." He looked up at the raven, a guilty expression across his face. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" the raven exclaimed in an angry tone, causing the blonde to flinch. "Dobe, there's no reason for _you_to be apologizing; it's Itachi who needs to pay."

Naruto felt his lover's arms stiffen around him due to the rage he felt inside.

Forcing himself to calm down, the Uchiha looked at the Kyuubi vessel full in the eye. _I have to sort out the other part as well_, he thought to himself.

"Naruto, is it true about the other thing Lady Hokage told us, that Itachi is in fact after the Kyuubi?" he spoke calmly, but he felt a sense of apprehension inside him which he hadn't noticed before.

Years of keeping his emotions behind him helped a lot at times like these, even though he had learned to ease up a bit in the company of his best friend and lover.

The blonde gave a nod before speaking. "Yeah, I think so, I mean, that's what he and the Akatsuki were after last time. But...if he wanted the Kyuubi, he could've taken it at any time, yet I've still got the fox in me."

Sasuke stared blankly at the wall opposite him, then gave a slight grimace. "Itachi likes to play with his food before finally eating it."

He looked back at the blonde in his arms, seeing a bit of fear in his azure eyes one again. But it was gone when he blinked and so he held him even closer, ruffling his hair. "Dobe, you said everyone from Konoha hates you, do you really mean that?"

"Well, not _everyone_. There are _some_exceptions; everyone from the rookie nine and all our sensei's and Tsunade baa-chan and...uh...oh yeah, Jiraiya sensei, too! Um...that's all whom I can think of right now heh heh." He gave a nervous laugh but fell silent seeing the look on Sasuke's face.

"So, you mean to tell me that the rest of the village pretty much wants you dead." He stated bluntly.

Naruto looked down, trying to avoid the Uchiha's piercing glare. "Um...not exactly _dead_...that's going a bit far dontcha think? _Not that they haven't tried to kill me_..." he mumbled the last part, trying to keep it incoherent.

It took a few moments until Sasuke finally caught what the blonde had said. "What?! What does that mean? They actually tried to _kill_ you? For _that_?!"

Wincing, the dobe nodded silently, inwardly cursing at himself for letting that slip. But before the other could say another word, he jumped off the bed and headed for the door. "I'm going to have a drink, want something?" he glanced back at his lover.

The Uchiha shook his head, but got up to go after the blonde, not wanting to leave him alone after what just happened.

Once they had settled down on the small couch in their sitting room, Sasuke remembered what the Hokage had said before leaving. He told the dobe about how Itachi was in a weakened state at the moment, but may still try to attack again anyway.

Though shocked at first, the blonde felt much more encouraged, and when they decided to start their training again, he sparred with much more effort than before, secretly, yet also guiltily, hoping Itachi would come again, looking for a fight.

The plan that Sasuke had thought up was very simple and straightforward and Naruto wondered whether it would work. But the raven seemed confident and so the blonde chose to trust his judgment.

"Remember, we don't know where he'll come from, or when; we have to be ready." Sasuke said to him as they cleaned up and were in the middle of making a small dinner.

Sasuke felt they were nearly ready; all they needed was a little more practice and he was sure they would be able to take on his older brother and defeat him.

With that thought in mind, he feel into a light sleep that night, keeping his guard up for the expected attack.

* * *

It was in the middle of the night when Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he immediately sat upright, turning his head around in the darkness, trying to determine the disturbance.

There was a rumbling sound coming from within the walls, similar to the last time Itachi had tried to enter.

The raven looked down in the dark where the now stirring blonde was. He jerked the dobe awake and got down off the bed. He could tell it would be at least ten minutes before the older Uchiha got to them; the vibration of the crumbling rocks around them was still quite faint.

Keeping as silent as possible and hiding their chakra scent to the best of their ability, the two went through the rooms, running a hand on the walls, and as much of the ceiling as they could reach, trying to determine where Itachi would enter from, using a small candle to light their way.

"Here," the raven whispered and Naruto barely caught the voice over the increasingly loud noise from the walls. Sasuke was pointing up towards the ceiling, in the corner of the room which they used to spar and train.

The blonde nodded and walked out of the room, back to their beds. He performed the hand signs and his doppelganger popped out in front of him. Sasuke, who was right behind him, did the same. The two doppelgangers slipped under the bed covers, pretending to be asleep.

Meanwhile, the real raven and blonde quietly went into the bathroom and blew out the candle. The room still didn't have a door yet, but they would use it to their advantage.

The raven had expected that the older Uchiha would come, even if it was only a day after his last attack, and from what Lady Tsunade had been hinting, he knew she had probably thought the same thing and had purposefully told the ANBU outside not to do anything. Knowing Itachi, the raven had anticipated that he would come at night, in the disguise of darkness, expecting them to be asleep, yet would be unknowingly weakened himself. He would have overestimated his strength compared to the two lovers.

After a minute or two, the vibrations from the walls stopped. Sasuke perked up his ears, listening intently; the noise had stopped too soon for him to have arrives already.

The blonde clutched onto his arm, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, cold sweat slowly dripped down the side of his handsome face.

It was impossible to pick out the scent of the older Uchiha's chakra. It was as if he had suddenly disappeared.

They held their breath, waiting in apprehension for a surprise attack.

Fifteen minutes had passed by before the two ninjas heard anything. The blonde clung onto the younger Uchiha, holding his breath, as a figure walked across the small hallway, hints of his scarlet eyes visible even the near pitch darkness of the make-shift house.

Frowning, the raven followed the figure with his eyes as it headed towards their bedroom. They could hear him muttering something, but it was too soft to be able to understand it.

In the next few seconds that followed, the two hidden ninjas heard two pops and a soft chuckle as their doppelgangers were defeated.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other in the darkness and nodded silently. The blonde walked swiftly across the hallway, brandishing his kunai. The raven kept pace a few feet behind him, using the darkness to keep as much out of sight as he could. Once they reached the bedroom, the blonde there his kunai at the older Uchiha, whose back was slightly turned against him. As soon as the kunai left his hand, he started doing the hand signs he was supposed to be doing.

The kunai hit its target squarely in the shoulder and he staggered slightly before turning around and jumping on the blonde, keeping his unsheathed Katana at the dobe's neck.

Naruto let out a yell as he tried to dodge the attack but was pushed onto the floor on his back.

The raven was standing behind the doorframe, keeping out of sight, waiting for the right moment to attack. He didn't the risk of poking his head out to see what was happening for fear of ruining their carefully constructed plan.

The blonde whimpered and was about to yell out to tell his lover to strike, but was silenced as he felt a pair of lips against his own. His mind went empty as he tried to comprehend what was happening. He felt their lips part, and a there was a hand to his mouth. There was a hot breath at his ear and he felt a chill run down spine.

He was dragged silently to corner of the small room and sprawled on his back. He struggled furiously against the force of the older man but couldn't get free.

"I know where he's hiding; make a sound and I'll kill him this instant," the voice was so soft, the blonde could hardly make it out.

Old forgotten memories returned and he felt terror sweep through his body.

Itachi slipped a hand up his shirt and goose bumps covered the blonde's chest and stomach at the touch of those cold fingers.

Naruto's heart started beating really fast and he was starting to panic now; Itachi had never done this before, he didn't know what he was after be doing this to him.

He wanted Sasuke, not his brother; not the man who had made his life a living hell.

Sasuke listened intently for what was happening inside the room, but it was complete silence. He was heard a thump like someone falling and then something else he couldn't quite make out.

He felt fear for the fact that something could have happened to his lover. Fighting down the urge to take a peek, he convinced himself to trust in the blonde and his actions. _But if this continues any longer, I'll go ahead with my part. _

Back inside the room, Naruto was struggling hard to free himself, without making any noise. It was proving to be very difficult as the older Uchiha had a firm grip on him.

The blonde closed his eyes, trying to block out what was happening to him. _I thought Tsunade has said he would be weak tonight._

He felt Itachi's hot breath down on his body and the older man's cold hands exploring every part of his chest and strong abs, making his way down to the dobe's lower abdomen, but then abruptly stopped, as though frozen.

The Kyuubi holder opened his eyes slightly to see what was going on. _Sasuke...?_ He hoped the raven had come to save him.

He caught sight of a pair of scarlet eyes, looking directly down at him, coming closer. He wanted to yell out to his raven as fear struck though him as though he had just been slapped. Before he could do anything, he felt his body stiffen and he couldn't move. _No! NO NO NO! Sasuke! Please, help! Save me!_ He felt tears slide down the side of his face and drip onto the floor.

_It's over...this all my fault...it's what I deserve..._Thoughts of despair filled his head as he felt Itachi's cold hands slide down to undo his pants.

He pressed his lips onto the blonde's, forcing his tongue inside, feeling the inner crevices of Naruto's mouth, and making their tongue's dance to the feeling of lust and terror that they both felt.

Itachi smirked in the darkness, and pressed down harder, slipping his hands down the blonde's boxers, cupping his hardening member.

Naruto's breath caught in his chest as he battled to control the new feeling.

Parting their lips, the older Uchiha slithered down to the dobe's lower half, sending trickles of hot breath onto his skin.

_Kyuubi!_The blonde remembered the demon residing within him and called out to him. _Kyuubi, please, help! I don't want this, this can't be happening! Make it go away. MAKE IT GO AWAY! PLEASE, STOP IT!_ Fresh tears ran down his face as he tried to block out everything that was going on.

Then, a voice drifted out to him softly from the back of his head. _I can't...my chakra flow...has been...blocked..._The Kyuubi said something else but it was too far away fro the blonde to clearly make out what he has said.

Meanwhile, the blonde's lover was getting increasingly impatient. He was willing to wait only one more minute, and if the blonde not hot signaled to him be then, then he would go ahead and attack anyway. He activated his Sharingan and gripped his weapon tightly in his hand.

Inside the room, the older Uchiha had noticed how his younger sibling had tensed up to attack. Smirking again he redoubled his efforts and spread the blonde's legs apart, putting his leg in between and claiming his position on top.

Naruto's body involuntarily jerked as he felt Itachi grope him.

Outside the room, Sasuke took a deep breath and, holding his kunai and Katana in front of him defensively, he turned to face the doorframe. The door stood ajar, and there was no sign of any disturbances. He pushed open the door all the way and stepped inside cautiously.

There was movement in the corner of the room, but it was too dark to tell what was happening. With amazing speed, he flicked on the lights and was beside the person who had been higher up off the floor.

What he saw rendered him frozen and speechless for a few moments. Itachi was on top of the blonde - _his blonde_- his hands caressing him in places only Sasuke would be allowed to touch. He noticed that the dobe wasn't doing anything to resist, he wasn't stopping it, and he wasn't fighting back at all. The raven instantly felt broken inside at the sight.

Before he could dwell on the matter any longer, the older Uchiha sprang up and was about to attack. Sasuke moved back to dodge it and then went forwards again, brandishing his Katana in front of him.

His sadness instantly turned into rage at what had just happened. _Dobe, why don't you fight back?!_

The blonde was still on the floor, his pants undone, and his shirt pulled up slightly. Though he still wasn't able to move, he could feel Itachi's jutsu wearing off as his concentration was being diverted. All he could do now was watch the fight from the corner of his eyes, and silently hope that his raven could hold off the other until he was freed.

Sasuke cried out in rage as he attacked his older brother again in full force.

"You _BASTARD_! How _dare_you do that to Naruto?!" he yelled as he sent another blow towards the older raven.

Itachi was shocked to see that the raven was so full of rage and hatred. He had expected him to be broken at seeing his beloved blonde being nearly _taken_, lying helplessly on the floor, and not being able to fight back.

Hiding his bitterness for his plan going awry, he smirked. "Foolish brother; I haven't done anything to him...yet," He licked his lips and glanced at the dobe still lying in the corner, trying to provoke his younger sibling even. If he couldn't break him through despair, he'd do it through rage and hatred.

Though Itachi thought that was losing the battle due to his initial plan backfiring, he was losing his energy too fast and didn't realize until he was pinned to the wall, the younger raven keeping his Katana to his throat.

Confusion and a slight sense of panic swept through him as he tried to comprehend how this had come to be. As he searched through his mind for an answer, he unknowingly, set his captive free.

Naruto gasped as he felt the control of his body return to him. Shaking slightly, he slowly rose to his feet, straightening up his shirt buttoning his pants. Looking up, his eyes widened at the fight happening in front of him. Sasuke was winning! He was _actually_winning!

He took a deep breath, trying to get back into focus. Sasuke had his brother against the wall; this was the perfect opportunity. He just hoped that his raven wasn't too blinded by rage to recognize what he was about to do!

"Sasuke!" he yelled across the room, brining his hands together to perform his jutsu. "I love ramen!"

The raven turned his head around to look at the dobe. There was a demonic rage shining through his eyes. For a moment, even Naruto felt fear run down his spine. But he was snapped out of it soon enough as the raven let his older brother go and stood back to let his dobe finish the jutsu.

Naruto was ready. He completed the hand signs and within seconds, the room was full of other blonde haired dobe's, their eyes focused primarily on the one who had tortured him for so long. The younger Uchiha was no where to be seen.

Itachi smirked. "It doesn't matter how many you make, I'll get rid of them all." He held his Katana, ready to strike, and stepped forward, swinging it so that the three doppelgangers nearest him vanished.

He kept going, trying to get rid of more of them. Nine kunai flew towards him. He easily dodged or blocked them. But then he was struck on his side by a tenth one that had seemingly just appeared out of no where.

He staggered slightly, and then turned to see where it had come from. He knew it wasn't any of the doppelgangers, which meant that his dear younger brother must be hiding amongst them.

Ignoring that, he continued to take down the clones one by one, making his way towards the original.

Minutes passed by and Itachi found himself slowing down. He didn't feel tired; he hadn't wasted much effort on taking out the doppelgangers.

What he saw just frustrated him, though he concealed it. Through the eyes of his Sharingan he could see that he was caught in a web; a web of steel string that surrounded him from head to toe, making it more difficult to move around.

While he had been busy taking care of the endless amount of clones, his younger brother had been aiming the kunai, tied with steel string, capturing him in an intricate web.

He noticed something dripping off the strings, and looking closely, he saw that it was some sort of liquid.

He was struck with a shuriken, square on his left shoulder, and he stumbled back, caught off guard.

Upon taking a step back, he cut himself free of some of the string which surrounded him. He cursed under his breath, feeling a stinging sensation hit his bloodstream as the string cut into his flesh.

Itachi took an attempt at cutting the rest of the steel. He hadn't gotten far when he was hit with another shuriken, scraping his side.

This time, his arm was left numb after the steel string cut through the fabric of his robe, slicing his skin. He started to feel faint, as he realized that the liquid on the string was actually poisoned.

Ignoring the pain to the best of his ability, e reached for his kunai to throw at the doppelgangers. He knew it was futile to do so since the blonde was conjuring up more for the amount that Itachi defeated.

But with his sharingan, he aimed towards where the real blonde was.

Just as soon as the weapon left his hands, he was hit again by more kunai, and he struggled to stay standing in one place to avoid touching any more of the surrounding web.

The older raven gave a smirk when a howl of pain came from the direction of the blonde.

Naruto had his face hidden in his hands, blood dripping to the floor from his bloodied face. He had been caught off guard as he concentrated on his doppelgangers.

"Arrrgg...ng..." the blonde moaned in pain.

"Naru-!" the voice of the devastated raven came from across the room, opposite the blonde.

"No! Stay where you are! We have to finish this now!" the dobe shouted back, cutting the raven off in the middle of his anguished cry. "It's not so bad, don't worry..."

Hesitant, Sasuke backed off from his impulse to rush to the blonde's side.

Wiping blood off his face as best as he could, the blonde continued to make more doppelgangers and trapping Itachi in a horde of clones. He ignored the continuous flow of blood from where the kunai had struck him; across his left eye.

In the midst of all the confusion, Itachi had managed to get rid of most of the web surrounding him. Both the raven and the blonde could see Itachi's movements slowing down due to the poison spreading through his bloodstream.

Sasuke pulled on the remaining strings, which where attacked to the spool he had had with him, and trapped Itachi with what was left. Any move he made now would be fatal. The older raven grunted under his breath from the pain that was pulsing through him. He was losing a lot of blood and the poison was still finding its way to him, no matter how much he tried not to touch the remaining web of strings.

It was obvious that he was to lose now; there was no question of it. The blonde was starting to bring back his clones now and he was starting to feel faint, so he disabled his sharingan, trying to stay conscious.

_Well_, he though_, I might as well take the Kyuubi with me._

Slowly, hr brought his hands together, avoiding the touch of the web around him, to prepare to perform the jutsu that he should have used a long time ago, to end it.

Blood still dripped from his hand, due to the kunai he was hit with earlier.

"Naruto, NOW!" came a yell from the corner of the room.

Stopping his hand movements, Itachi looked up to see a bright light heading his way, a silhouette of the Kyuubi vessel behind it.

"ARRRG! RASENGAN!" Came a cry as the blonde struck the older Uchiha with the fourth Hokage's special jutsu. There were drops of blood falling behind him, from the wound he had acquired on his face.

Itachi felt something burn into his back and he heard the crackling of thunder and lightning as he blinked in surprise.

As though in slow motion, the older, raven-haired ninja feel back, his face in shock, and his lips parted slightly still in mid sentence. And with a gasp he struck floor, his body unmoving.

Naruto and Sasuke stared, unbelievingly, at the body in front of them. It was silent except for the silent dripping of the blonde's blood from his face.

It was a few minutes before either of them moved.

The raven walked forward and knelt down beside the body. The dobe followed close behind, bringing a hand up to his face, trying to stop the flow of blood.

Sasuke checked the pulse of his brother, trying to determine whether he was actually dead or just unconscious.

"I-Is he dead? Did I actually kill him?" he tried to sound strong and confident, but the blonde couldn't help but feel some guilt at having taken another life, even if it was Itachi's.

The younger Uchiha looked up at the blonde. "No, not dead, but his heart beat's slowing down. We should take him to Lady Tsunade and see if she wants any answers from him before it's too late."

He stood up and looked around what was left of their bedroom. The few ornaments that had been set up around the room were all smashed or broken and the sheets on the bed were all ruffled up due to the numerous amount of blonde's that had occupied the room just minutes ago.

Looking back at the blonde, who still had a hand to his face, he led him to their training room and took out a set of bandages that had been kept their in case of emergencies. He cleaned the wound, wincing at the amount of damage that had been done, and then tied the bandage around the blonde's head to help stop the blood flow.

"You guys were right," the raven said as they made their way to the sitting room.

"Huh?"

"Itachi was after the Kyuubi. I heard him saying it just before we took him down." The young raven said grimly.

"Oh, right." Naruto stayed quiet. He was still reflecting what had just happened.

As they got to the sitting room, they were face-to-face with three ANBU members who were standing there, apparently waiting for them.

The two had expected as much, but were still a little uneasy, seeing as they were standing there so calmly.

"We were ordered not to interfere." The one closest to them said curtly.

Sasuke nodded. "We thought so; good thing you didn't." he paused for a moment before continuing. "He's in _there_, unconscious, but dying." He motioned to the back room. "Can we get out of here now?"

Without a word, two of the masked men headed to the bedroom.

The two lovers started intently at the remaining ANBU member, waiting for a reply.

"Yes, you can. But, for security measures, you'll be blindfolded agai-"

"WHAT?!" the blonde exclaimed. "But why? It's all over!"

Shaking his head, the ANBU replied, "It's a direct order from lady Hokage, you _must_ be blindfolded. Please collect your things so we can leave immediately."

In five minutes, the two had collected everything they had brought with them (Naruto sneaked a few cups of instant-ramen into his bag).

There was only one person to escort them back, since the other two had gone ahead with the older Uchiha. So the blonde and raven held onto their hands tightly, as they were blindfolded.

Sasuke grabbed onto the ANBU's arm and they started on their way back.

The stepped outside and felt the wonderful feeling of fresh air and early-morning sunlight enxhilerate their senses after weeks of stayed cooped up in their make-shift hide-out.

"Finally, we get to go home again Sasuke!" the blonde grinned widely and squeezed the raven's hand. The Uchiha squeezed back, happy that they were free.

* * *

**YAY! I MADE IT! WE made it! What a long chapter (my longest one yet!).**

**I hoped you liked it. I'll write a small epilogue type thing if I have enough people asking me to, heh heh. Nah, I'll write it anyway. **

**I'm really proud of this and I'm happy for all the good reviews and support I've had from everyone; thanks so much!  
Sorry for hurting Naruto so much. **

**Please REVIEW, I really want to know what you guys think of this. **


	14. Night's Fruition

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the insanely long wait. I have no excuse this time as to why I took so long...I just kept putting it off. I'm so bad, sorry!**

**Okay, so I'm really confused about this one. I don't know what you'll think of it, but I hope you'll like it. Thank for reading.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. His eyes, his face, his hands, his hair, his everything else, belongs to K. Masashi [and to Sasuke!]**

**Here it is everyone, the absolute last chapter; ENJOY!**

It had been two years since the day the blonde and the raven had come back to the village, the blonde grinning broadly.

They had been greeted with a warm welcome by all their friends and remember having been asked endless questions to what had gone on during the battle.

Three days after their return, Itachi's heart had finally stopped beating and he had lain motionless atop the hospital bed. He had been buried outside the village walls, where he had chosen to go after annihilating his family during his youth.

Naruto had been treated and there was now a very faint scar across his eye. Not many knew about it. Sasuke would run a hand over it every morning when they woke up; reminding himself of how much better he still had to get to protect those around him.

They lived in the Uchiha complex now and were trying to get more people to move into the empty houses.

Tonight, Naruto and Sasuke were huddled up together under a blanket, sitting on the couch and sipping some sake.

It had been several days since the couple had gotten a chance to spend time together as they were always being sent out on missions.

Things had mostly returned to "normal" since they had returned, but the blonde sometimes flinched whenever someone touched him knowingly, even Sasuke.

It had taken a while for the dobe to get used to things, but the raven had helped him immensely and he was grateful for the support.

Sasuke had his arm around his Kyuubi, as he liked to call him some times, and the blonde in return lay his head on his chest. It was moment like these that the two loved the most. It felt like an eternity between them and the blonde always wished for it to go on forever.

Unfortunately, it never did go on forever; there was always some sort of interruption. And it was almost always either Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, or Shikamaru. And for some reason, it always felt like they planned it. Sometimes, Sasuke even wished they were back in hiding; no one would have been able to find them that way.

But, today, they had made sure no one would come barging in on them. Today was a special day, so they had told all their friends that they were off on a mission, and even if they did some how happen to find out the truth, they had locked all the doors and windows.

The blonde sighed softly, and took a sip from his cup. It was so peaceful, so quiet.

"Hmm, Naruto..." the raven purred in his ear.

Naruto giggled, despite himself. "What, teme?"

"Your plan to lock us inside tonight has been your most brilliant idea ever." he was looking at a far off distance, a blissful smile on his face.

The blonde looked up at him, about to get mad for being called an idiot, but changed his mind as he realized that his lover hadn't meant it that way.

Sasuke looked down at that blonde's bright blue eyes. He could see the love and happiness he felt, but there was also a hint of sadness, of loneliness; there always was.

The villagers' attitudes hadn't changed at all over the past couple of years. The blonde ignored them, and told Sasuke to do the same, but the raven could always tell that it got to him, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Sasuke put his empty cup of sake down on the small table in front of them and held the blonde in his arms tightly, fearing that if he let go, the blonde would vanish.

He felt the warmth of tears on his shoulder and he drew back slightly, looking at the silently sobbing blonde.

"Naru-" But he was silenced as the dobe put a hand at his lips.

"I'm so happy today Sasuke. I can't tell you how much this all means to me, how much YOU mean to me." he straightened up a bit, put his cup down, and brought his arms around his lover, snuggling into the nape of his neck.

He smiled, aware that Sasuke couldn't see his expression. The felt the arms around him tighten and looked up to give his raven a quick kiss.

They parted and the raven stood up, taking the empty sake cups back into the kitchen. When he sat back down, Naruto laid down, resting his head on the Uchiha's lap. He looked up at his lover with a coy smile spread across his lips.

"I love you, Sasuke."

"I lo-" The raven was cut off. There was knocking at the door.

The lovers glanced at each other.

_You told everyone we'd be gone, right?_ The blonde mouthed to the Uchiha.

Sasuke gave a curt nod.

They sat in silence, waiting for the person at the door to leave.

No one should have known they were home, not even Lady Tsunade.  
Though the light in the room was on, there weren't any windows connected to the front of the house.

The raven pointed his finger up, then rolled his eyes in annoyance; something he'd never do in front of anyone else.

Naruto nodded, and they got up and crept their way up the stairs. They entered the room giving view to the front and looked down to see who was at their door. It wasn't too dark yet, so it was quite easy to make out the figures standing at their door-step; Sakura and Lee.

The raven grumbled in annoyance, and Naruto gave a pout. This was the first time in a long time that the two of them had gotten time to spend by themselves, and they did _NOT_ want to be disturbed, _especially_ by Sakura or Lee.

Snippets of Sakura and Lee's bickering could be heard and the raven and blonde hoped they'd be gone soon.

"See? I told you they weren't home!" Sakura was saying. "We'll come again when they're back."

"Nonsense, I am sure I saw Naruto's youthful presence go inside just earlier today." Lee replied.

They argued for a few more minutes, but then decided to head back.

After making sure they were gone for good, Naruto and Sasuke went back down, speaking in low voices, as an extra precaution.

"How could he have seen you come in here? Lee never hangs out in this area; Sakura takes him everywhere she goes." Sasuke said to the blonde. He was walking slightly behind his blonde so he could watch him; the way his golden hair moved slightly with every step he took, and the way his clothes hung loosely off his body, just perfectly. He reached out a hand to put around his lover, but at the same moment, the blonde stopped and turned around to face the raven. Sasuke quickly brought his hand back down by his side.

"It's probably just Lady Tsunade having people make sure nothing happens to me. She hasn't gotten off my back since the whole thing with _Itachi_." He spoke the older Uchiha's name in contempt. But what he said was true enough; there was always someone following the blonde wherever he went, except during missions. The two never discussed it much, but it was pretty annoying, knowing that someone was watching everything you did.

Sasuke never liked having Naruto think about that, it always made him depressed.

"Want some ramen?" he asked casually.

"W-what? Now? Can I?" the blonde's asked, his eyes wide open in surprise.

The raven chuckled to himself, inwardly. If his blonde had little kitsune ears on the top of his head, they would have just perked up right now, and his tail would have been wagging playfully from side to side.

"Yes, now...you can."

Of course, Sasuke knew this was as absolutely absurd time to be having ramen, especially now that they had had their sake. And perhaps it was the sake that made him suggest this in the first place. No, wait, that can't be it, I never get affected by only one cup, the raven thought to himself.

The blonde led the way to the kitchen, got two cups of instant ramen from the cupboard and started to make them.

Sasuke sighed and sat down at the table, letting the blonde do what he did best, hoping it would take his mind off _other_, more _depressing_ things.

Naruto finished with the first, and brought it over to his lover, setting a pair of chopsticks along beside it. Then he went back to finish the other one.

Sasuke stared at his cup of ramen. He didn't like ramen, not at all. Naruto knew that. At least, Sasuke _thought_ the blonde knew that. He sighed again and picked up his chopsticks. It was still hot, so he started blowing on it lightly to cool it down. When he was satisfied, he went to have a taste. And just as he was about to, he heard a loud splash and then a clank of metal hitting the floor. Naruto let out a howl of pain.

Sasuke immediately turned his head to the side to see what had happened.

Naruto was on the floor, the front of his shirt soaked and steaming, with a pained expression on his face, his eyes full of tears. He was surrounded by boiling hot water.

The raven rushed over and kneeled down beside him. He quickly got the shirt off his lover. Underneath, the skin across his chest and middle was bright red, and hot.

_Shit._

"Naruto! Are you okay? What happened?" he asked the blonde frantically, helping him to get up.

Naruto whimpered, shut his eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to block the pain of his burning hot skin.  
"M-my hand slipped." he said, voice trembling.

"Dobe," the raven cursed under his breath. He brought the blonde over to the couch and got him to lie down. He rushed back to the kitchen, got some cold, icy, water and two hand towels.

Reaching the blonde again, he dipped one towel into the water, wrenched the excess water out, and put it over the blonde's chest. Naruto gave a small grunt, but then finally relaxed as his skin started to cool down. The raven took the other towel and started to dab it onto the rest of his lover's body.

He was glad to know that there wouldn't be any permanent damage...unlike the ever lasting scars inflicted by Itachi which were practically glowing red due to the burn.

Sasuke continued what he was doing until the blonde finally got enough control over himself and enough of the pain was gone for him to sit up. He then got some clear ointment for the burns.

Sitting beside his shirtless blonde, he took some ointment ands started to apply it onto the front of his lover's chest. It wasn't very messy and it smelled sweet.

"Are you alright now?" he asked the blonde as he continued to spread the ointment.

"Y-yeah, I think so." He winced slightly as the raven's hand passed over his previous wounds.

"Lie down and stay still for a while, okay? I'll go and clean up." Sasuke said as he gently pushed the dobe back down onto the couch. Then he stood up and started towards the kitchen. Before he could take another step, however, Naruto grabbed has hand, stopping him.

"Wait! Don't go! This is the only time we've got together after such a long time, I wanna spend it with you." His eyes were wide with innocence, and the raven could tell he was deeply sorry for the slip of his hands just now.

The Uchiha gave just the hint of a smile and sat down on the floor, leaning against the couch facing his lover; the blonde still hadn't let go of his hand. Naruto have a wide grin and squeezed the raven's hand. Sasuke held the blonde's hand tightly and raised himself to kiss him.

It was a deep kiss, and Naruto enjoyed every moment of it. He let out a moan and deepened the kiss, his tongue exploring, again, the inner crevices of Sasuke's mouth that he knew all too well and missed so much. When they parted, he let out a gasp, wanting it to go on.

Sasuke leaned his head on the blonde's side and trailed the scars with his unoccupied hand. Naruto gave a shudder as his lover's fingers touched his skin ever so gently. He looked at the raven, whose eyes were so depthless, and yet so empty at the same time. He looked lost, but safe at the same time. _Why...?_

"Sasuke," was all he said; he knew the raven would tell him what was wrong, he always did. That sent a wave of guilt to the pit of the blonde's stomach.

"I was thinking...the only reason you have to bear with these," he slid his hand gently over Naruto's injured. "The only reason is because I couldn't protect you; I wasn't strong enough. I should have defeated him before any of this could have happened. I'm so sorry." He looked up to face the blonde, his eyes full of guilt and despair.

Naruto started deep into his lover's eyes, his mind disbelieving what he jus heard. He leaned hi head back on the armrest and closed his eyes. "You're wrong, Sasuke. I was the weak one, I should have been able to fight back...but, Sasuke, I was so scared. I was so scared of what he would do to you. I didn't want you to get hurt." is eyes welled up with tears as he remembered those torturous nights, the nights when Itachi would look at him with pure evil and make him beg for death. "Sasuke..."

He gasped. He couldn't control it, he broke down, sobbing. Remembering the terror he had had to endure, it was too much. And that one time when Itachi had almost...He sobbed harder, tears streaming down his face.

Sasuke gripped the blonde's hand. He knew this would happen, but it wasn't good for the dobe to keep everything pent up inside...it was eating him up. He raised his hand and wiped away the tears as his lover started calming down.

"Naruto, it's okay, he's gone, and you're safe now. You don't have to remember anymore," he said soothingly. He was now sitting on the couch's armrest, with the blonde in his arms, cuddling up on his chest. He leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. "I love you."

The blonde smiled slightly, slowly overcoming the terror in his heart.

"You want ramen? I'll go get mine for you." Sasuke offered, not knowing what else to say. But the blonde shook his head and snuggled more deeply into Sasuke's arms. In turn, Sasuke coiled his arms around the blonde's beautifully toned body. His hands glazed over the muscles that slowly moved in rhythm to the blonde's breathing.

They sat like that for a few minutes and then the blonde jumped up onto his knees, turned around and gave the raven a most passionate kiss. Sasuke wrapped his arms around the blonde, as the blonde did the same, touching the raven in ways the ninja's fan girls would kill for.

The Uchiha slowly pushed the blonde onto his back, ravishing his body, planting kisses wherever he could. Naruto arched his back slightly, encouraging the raven in his attempts. But Sasuke stopped, raising his head, and looked deep into his lover's eyes. They fell into a deep kiss once again and the raven hands started to make their way down, arousing the blonde to new heights.

Naruto had one hand wrapped around the raven and the other undoing his belt. His body was heating up and he his breathing quickened.

"Ai shiteru."

The next morning, Sasuke woke up, light spilling on his face. He blinked, focusing his eyes. The light that passed through the fabric of the curtains made their way to the couch where he and the blonde had cuddled up last night after a night of pure bliss.

He smiled, remembering the night before. Looking down, he saw the beautiful face of his angelic blonde, still sleeping. He got up and made his way to the kitchen, dreading the mess. It smelled of ramen and the floor was kind of sticky, still wet. He sidestepped around the main mess and got himself a glass of water. He could hear the blonde stirring.

Walking over to the blonde, he greeted him with a quick peck on the cheeks. "Morning."

"G'morning," the blonde replied still sleepy. He drank the water Sasuke offered him. He was still shirtless and he looked amazing, making the raven smirk, and trying to hide his blush.

"Hey, dobe, guess what?"

"Huh? What?" he asked confused. "And don't call me that, teme!" He gave a pout.

The raven gave a larger smirk, walked up to the blonde and whispered into his ear. "You're cleaning up."

It took a while for the dobe to understand what Sasuke meant, and by the time he got it, the raven was halfway up the stairs, heading towards the bathroom to clean himself up.

"Hey! HEY! TEME, COME BACK HERE! That's not fair!" He shouted after his lover. "I'm still injured, look! LOOK!" He pointed to his chest, showing where his burns had been, but were no longer there. "Grrr," he grumbled.

"I SAW PLENTY OF WHAT I WANTED TO SEE LAST NIGHT, DOBE, AND I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT!" Sasuke shouted back from the bathroom, savoring the fact that the blonde couldn't see his red face.

Naruto smiled, blushing. But then he gave a pout again. "W-wha-? Hey! TEME!" He shouted again, realizing he still had to do the cleaning up. Sighing, he got up and walked over to the kitchen where the mess lay. He knew Sasuke would be back soon enough and would help, but he got started on it anyway. _Another day of work and no fun_, he thought, pursing his lips in a frown.

Then he laughed, despite himself, at everything that had gone on during the day before. He was happy knowing that, with Sasuke, he would be able to face what ever came in the future. There was no more Itachi and the past was behind him. He could finally be at peace with himself. He smiled. He was finally happy.

**Yay, I finally finished! After how long? ZOMG! Oh, I sux, I know. But I hope everyone enjoyed it. XD**

**So, several things I wanna say:  
1) This chapter might have a lot of changes in mood because I'm a very moody person and I wrote this over the course of nearly three months.  
2) I'm so happy this is finished, I feel so proud now, -Nya!-  
3) About Naruto's burn: it wasn't anything serious, it just heated up his skin pretty bad, and with the ointment and Kyuubi, it healed! Yay!**

**I'd really like everyone's opinion on this. Was it fitting for a "sequel" type thing? I wanted to make it more fluffy, but it wasn't working out...I don't think I'm very good at writing like that, I dunno. What do you all think? **

**Oh yeah...I didn't want this to be a lemon. I've never written a lemon before, so I didn't want to ruin this by writing one. You can all use your imaginations, right? RIGHT? Hahaha. **

**UPDATE: I've started writing a SasuNaru Christmas fic recently, as well as another angsty piece. I think you might like it.  
Also, I know this fic is complete, however; if you have any suggestions or anything you'd like for me to fix, or if you would just like to say how much you like it, please let me know! I'm still interested in your thoughts since it would help for other ideas I have for future fics. Remember, it's all for the fans...well, it is for me anyway. **

**So, please REVIEW!**


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